Life of a Hunter
by AirInThere
Summary: Rosemary was taken under the protection of John Winchester when she was only 5. Growing up as a hunter with 3 males has probably something to do with why she feels so messed up, especially when she starts feeling something more for someone she shouldn't.
1. Prologue & New School

**September 13, 1989**

"_Tell me what you learned about witches Rosie." Abigail Bennett questioned her five year old daughter in their motel room while she cleaned her guns on her bed. Rosemary stopped reading the large, old book that was in front of her and closed it._

"_You can't tell they're a witch unless you know they are one for sure." Her mother nodded but continued to clean the pistol she was holding, making sure that it wouldn't jam when it came time to kill the witch. Rosemary knew her mother wanted more information. "Doesn't matter how you kill a witch, just as long as you do."_

_This was Rosemary's life. When she was just a year old her father had been tortured and brutally murdered right in front of her and her mother by a demon. She of course didn't remember it really, but her mother did. Her mother never forgot it. After he died Abigail dropped Rose off at her neighbor's house and hunted down the demon that ruined their lives and killed it. From then on Abigail continued to hunt fueled by the anger and hurt she felt when her husband was killed. When she found a hunt she would drop Rosemary off at her friend Ellen's bar and then take off. Ellen knew about everything, her husband was a hunter too. Lots of hunters came to Ellen's bar for information or to take a break, even if only for a moment. _

_When Rose turned four, Abigail couldn't bear to lie to her daughter anymore. She never told Rose what she did when she left her with Ellen but she always came back beaten and bruised only to leave a few days after. She was gone for days, weeks at a time and Rose just wanted to be with her mother. Finally Abby couldn't say no to her Rosemary anymore. Rosie needed to know what was out there; she needed to know how to defend herself and eventually her family. Abigail would be damned to hell if the same thing happened to Rose when there could have been something she could have done to protect her daughter. _

_So when she returned from hunting down a particularly nasty spirit she told Rosemary to pack her things. As they drove away from the Roadhouse, Ellen's bar, Abby told her daughter everything. From the demon that killed her father to the spirit that she had just gotten rid of. She told Rose that she was going to teach her to defend herself and if Rosie wanted to, she would teach her how to kill the evil sons of bitches too. Of course, Rosemary was only four so those hadn't been the specific words that she used, but Rosemary wanted nothing more than to be on the road with her mother, even if it meant all the dangers that came with it._

"_What else?" Her mom asked, looking up as she set down the gun and grabbed a large blade and started to polish it. _

"_They like to torture their victims and…" Rosemary knew there was more. There had to be._

"_And they are bad and we have to get rid of them." Her mom finished for her with a little smile. It was more of a smirk, but Rosemary didn't really understand. She nodded and watched her mom finish polishing her blade. Once she was finished she started to load her weapons. She made sure the safety was on the gun before tucking it in the back of her pants, pulling her shirt over it. She kneeled down and lifted her jeans up and stuck the blade in the holster she had tied around her shin. Rosemary knew all about weapons. She had a knife holster herself and her mom was teaching her how to use a gun. But until Rosemary was at least a teenager, she would stay in the motel rooms and study and research whatever they were hunting. _

"_All right sweetie," Abigail stood up and grabbed the backpack full of the rest of her weapons. "I should be back by tomorrow morning. Tell me the rules so I know you know them."_

_Rosemary held back from rolling her eyes. Her mom didn't appreciate any attitude. If something went wrong then everything went wrong, even if it was something simple like staying up past the curfew. Abigail liked structure and perfection and that was the way things had to be: perfect._

"_I'll finish studying and be in bed by ten. As soon as you leave I'll salt all the windows and doors. I won't open the door for anybody, no matter what. You have the key so you won't need to be let in. But if for some reason you lose the key and you need to be let in, I'll ask for the secret phrase,"_

"_Which is?" Abby interrupted her daughter._

"_If the real thing don't do the trick, you'd better make up something quick." Rosemary recited. Every town, every motel, every day it was a different phrase, usually from a song, this time Barracuda by Heart. Abby nodded and Rosemary continued with the last and most important rule. "And if you aren't back by the time you say you'll be back I'll call John Winchester."_

_Rosemary stumbled on the name a little. Her five year old mouth still had trouble pronouncing some things. The very first thing her mother had ever taught her when she first learned about demons was that if something ever happened to Abby, she was to call John Winchester. Rose had never met him but she knew he was a hunter and he and Abby knew each other. Rose didn't know how, it didn't really matter to her. She knew every way to reach him, Ellen and Bobby Singer, another hunter that her mother knew. Rose knew Bobby a little, having stayed with him when her mom was after a Shtriga, a type of witch that sucked the blood out of children when they slept._

"_That's right honey." Abby silently went through her own mental checklist and then kissed Rosemary on the forehead. "I'll see you when I get back. I love you."_

"_I love you too mommy." Abby left and Rose jumped to the window, careful not to disturb the salt that was all ready there. She peeked out the curtains and watched as her mom drove away. When the car was finally out of sight, Rose sighed and grabbed the bag of salt lying by the door. She lined the door and the rest of the windows and even salted the door to the bathroom, just in case. Her mother taught her that it was never a bad thing to be too careful._

_Once all the entrances had been salted Rose sat down on her bed again and started with the homework that her mother always gave her. Since they were always on the road Abby didn't bother with making Rose go to school. Abby had been a teacher before everything had happened so she had taken it upon herself to teach Rose. _

_Every night Rose had a list of words she had to look up and define and was expected to memorize and use each one correctly. She also always had a sheet of arithmetic that she needed to complete and Abby and Rosemary together practiced Latin in case they needed to perform an exorcism. They spoke to each other in French as well as English. Abigail was ¾'s French and had grown up in France and she knew that speaking French would be great when they needed to talk about supernatural things in public places._

_Once Rose finished her homework she turned on the television and got ready for bed. She turned off the lights and set the sleep timer on the T.V. to go off automatically once she slept. She settled into bed and fell asleep watching reruns of some show that she didn't really care about._

_Rose woke up and saw that it was very bright outside. She rubbed her eyes and checked the clock on the nightstand. 1:42pm. Rose sat up and stretched her tired limbs before noticing her mother's bed was still made. She shrugged, guessing that her mom had let her sleep in but she didn't see her mom anywhere in the motel room. She checked the bathroom and then ran to the curtain to see if their car was parked in the lot. When it wasn't Rosemary started to panic. Something happened to her mother. Something had gone wrong._

_She ran to the phone on the nightstand and dialed the number that had been so engraved in her mind. Her fingers slipped and she had to hang up and try several times before she actually dialed the number correctly and listened to it ring. Tears were streaming down her face as she prayed for John Winchester to pick up._

_She heard a click and her heart pounded in her chest._

"_Hello?" She took a deep breath._

"_Are… are you J-John Winchester?" She asked, choking on her tears as she stumbled on his name again._

"_Yes, who is this?" He asked. Rosemary knew exactly what she was supposed to say. It was another thing her mother made her memorize._

"_My… my name is Rosemary Bennett. My mom didn't come home last night."_

**September 13, 1999**

"Wake up Rose," I groaned and opened my eyes to see John standing above me, shaking me gently.

"I'm awake," I told him, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. It was still dark outside and I looked to my side and saw Sam still sleeping. Dean was in the other bed and John was trying to wake him up next. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only six in the morning.

I remembered my dream from the other night and sighed. Ten years ago I had called John Winchester when my mom failed to return from a hunting trip. The witch had ended up killing her. John promised to come get me and had shown up within a few hours of me calling him. He left his two sons, Dean and Sam with me and then took off to go find my mom. He killed the witch but it had been too late to save my mom. The boys were ten and five respectively, but Sam was quick to point out that he was almost six.

They had calmed me down and explained who they were and Dean was surprised that I knew more than they had. Sam barely knew anything and Dean was impressed when I pulled my bag out from under the bed and showed them all the weapons my mom and helped me start to collect. I only had a few, but they were mine.

When John came back and told me what happened, he explained to the three of us that I was his responsibility from then on. I would travel with them and train with them and I would basically be a Winchester.

Sam and I grew closer than I did with Dean, mostly because we were only a few months apart and Dean didn't want much to do with a little girl. But he was just as protective of me as he was of Sam, if not more.

I nudged Sam as I got up and he started to wake up as John continued to shake Dean. Dean slept like a rock so I knew it would be a few minutes before John woke him up enough. I grabbed some clothes and headed to take a quick shower. We were going to a new school today.

This was one of the worst things about traveling with the Winchesters. Even though my mom had found the time to always come back to me when she said she would, she home schooled me too. But John insisted we go to school during the day, even if it was a different school almost every other week. It was frustrating. I was 14 for crying out loud and I was way smarter than all the people in those schools. I knew more than the teachers did half the time. But I knew better than to pitch a fit or argue with John. He didn't back down ever and usually after I talked back I had to run through one of his stupid training courses he always set up for us. It consisted with a lot of running, lifting, shooting, etc. It was like army boot camp sometimes.

I came out of the bathroom dressed and sat at the desk by the window and started putting on make-up. I only used a little. Usually just eyeliner and some eye shadow and lip balm at the most. It made me feel somewhat like a normal girl and the boys all knew to leave me alone about it. Just because I had been digging up a grave with Sam while Dean and John kept the spirit occupied while we salted and burned the remains doesn't mean that I didn't like to look or feel like a normal girl. Especially when we went to school. Dean didn't understand why I always wanted to fit in. Sam did though, and that's why we always stuck together and ended up with the same group of friends.

Sam came out of the bathroom dressed as Dean finally emerged from his cocoon in the bed and dragged himself to the bathroom. I rolled my eyes, knowing that he'd start taking a shower and when he finished he'd realize that he didn't bring any clothes with him. He did it often and it was always amusing for Sam and I to hear him beg us to bring him clothes.

I finished my make-up and tied my dark brown hair up in a ponytail and cleaned up my stuff and put it all away. John had left sometime during my shower but he returned now with breakfast for us.

"All right, eggs and hash browns for Rose," he handed me my Styrofoam container and kissed the top of my head, "bagel and cream cheese for Sam," he handed him his container and patted him on the back and then dropped the last container on the table that I had been doing my make-up at. "And eggs and bacon for Dean."

He turned back to us.

"You guys excited? New school today." He said, a smirk on his face. Sam and I just stared at him. He knew we hated it. Sam and I just figured that he liked to torture us. Luckily this was Dean's senior year so he only had to put up with this charade for a few more months. Sam and I weren't as lucky and had to deal with four more years. We were just starting high school. Technically I qualified to skip to my junior year, but I didn't want to leave Sam alone with a bunch of jerks so I opted to stay a freshman. John noticed the look on our faces. "All right, contempt is understood."

"What are you hunting here?" I asked, sitting back down at the table to eat my breakfast. Sam joined in and we heard the shower stop and smirked at each other.

"I'm not sure yet. I was hoping you guys could help with the research when you get back from school today. People are dying, the autopsy claims all the blood was drawn before their death."

I forked some hash browns into my mouth and scrunched my nose up in thought. "Vampires?" Sam asked. John nodded.

"Probably, but it wouldn't help to double check." He ruffled Sam's hair and stood up as Dean called for someone to bring him his clothes. We all smirked and laughed at his expense but John grabbed Dean's duffle and brought it to the bathroom for him.

Sam and I were stuck in biology learning about the endocrine system while Dean was probably ditching class with some cheerleader and making out in a janitor's closet or something. I finished my worksheet before the rest of the class and started drawing symbols on my paper. I didn't want to be the first one to turn in my paper, it would only get me labeled as a geek and therefore the stupid jocks and cheerleaders would be bothering me and bullying me and then I'd end up in a fight and so on and so forth. It was the same routine at each school. And usually Sam and Dean stepped in to fight for me so that I wouldn't end up with the repercussions from the school or John. I hated the punishments he had us do and Sam and Dean were always far better at them. I was always too slow and had to repeat them over and over until John was too tired to keep me going.

After eight or so kids brought their paper up, Sam included, I finally stood to turn mine in, just as the bell rang. I grabbed my book bag and waited for Sam outside.

"That was so stupid," Sam commented as soon as he caught up with me in the hall. I laughed and nodded.

"Seriously, we went over that at five different middle schools. I wish all schools had the same curriculum so we didn't have to learn the same thing over and over." Sam agreed. It was our lunch so we tried to find our way to the cafeteria when a door cracked open and we saw a familiar head peek out. Sam and I rolled our eyes as Dean walked out of the closet with some blonde, flustered girl trailing behind.

"You seriously can't keep it in your pants, can you?" I asked him when he still hadn't noticed us. The two of them jumped and turned to face us, the girl blushed more and Dean just grinned. He was way too cocky for his own good. Sam and I rolled our eyes as we continued past him. It was the same at every school.

Sam and I got our lunches and decided to eat outside since it was nice and warm. Surprisingly not a lot of students were outside with us but we didn't mind. It gave us the chance to talk about whatever John was hunting.

"I hate vampires," I said, shuddering.

"Seriously. Way creepy." Sam took a bite out of his burger and looked at something behind me as he chewed. "I think that guy is watching you."

He grabbed a pencil out of my bag and tossed it behind me so I had an excuse to look back. I saw the guy he was talking about and my eyes met his. He was really cute, red hair and a nice build. He was too far away to see any find details but it was definitely easy to see that he was staring at me and that I was definitely interested in him. I blushed and turned back to Sam.

I knew that I was pretty; I luckily had really good genes from my parents who were both attractive people. I had gone on a few dates in middle school and had crushes but never anything serious because we always moved before I could really start a relationship. Besides, I was 14, you couldn't really have a serious relationship at that age.

Sam noticed the red in my cheeks and smirked. "You like him."

I glared at him and shook my head. "I have no clue who he is. So don't be ridiculous."

"His name's Andrew. He's a sophomore and he's single and walking this way." Sam said, nonchalantly. My eyes grew wide and I quickly turned behind me to see that he really was indeed walking towards us. I looked back at Sam, noticing that he had all ready stood up and was getting ready to leave me.

"Where are you going?" I whispered quickly. He smirked again and I hated him for it.

"I'm going to the library to give you some time alone." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner. My heart was quickening it's pace and I glared at him.

"Don't leave," I begged. He shrugged and started to walk away. "Fine just, don't tell Dean!"

He didn't look back but raised his hand as he left me sitting under the tree by myself. I didn't want Dean to know because I knew he'd show up seconds later demanding that this guy, Andrew, stay way the hell away from me. He was super protective of Sam and I, more so of me because I was a girl. It made me so angry sometimes. I wasn't alone for long because the red headed boy was soon standing in front of me. He had a kind smile and I noticed with a hitch in my breath that his eyes were breathtakingly green.

"I'm Andrew," he said.


	2. First Kiss

**Chapter 2**

He seemed to be a little shy or wary, but that could have been because I was staring at him with wide eyes like he was going to attack me. "Can I, uh, sit here? With you?"

He held up a clear plastic container with a sandwich in it and I finally nodded.

"You're Rosemary, right?" He asked, taking a seat where Sam had just been sitting. I nodded again. "Do you talk at all?"

I blushed a very deep, embarrassing shade of red and nodded.

"Uh," I cleared my throat. "Yeah, you can call me Rose."

"It's nice to meet you, Rose." He said, smiling. I smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you, too." I replied. I continued to eat my pudding as he started his sandwich.

"When did you move here?" He asked.

Last night.

"A week ago. We just finished getting settled in." I lied. It was scary sometimes how easy it was to think of lies. I believed them more than the truth sometimes. It was easier that way.

"Where from?" He asked. I had to think about that. Where _were_ we last?

"Missouri," I said. I hoped he wouldn't ask any more questions about moving. He was really doing a number on my nerves and I didn't know how great my lies would be soon.

"I have some family there. It's nice." I nodded and scooped another spoonful of chocolate pudding in my mouth. I looked around and noticed a small group of people watching us and it seemed like they were talking about us.

"Are those friends of yours?" I asked, pointing to them. Andrew turned to look at them and blushed as he glared at them. They quickly laughed and started walking away.

"Yeah, they're my friends." Why were they laughing at him then? "I just usually have problems talking to pretty girls. They had to practically force me over here."

So he didn't want to talk to me. I nodded and looked down at my pudding cup. I was let down but I didn't want to admit that. He quickly backtracked.

"That didn't come out the way I meant it. I meant that," he paused and blushed about as bad as I had been earlier. "I saw you this morning getting out of the car with those two guys and I couldn't stop staring at you. I wanted to introduce myself but I was too embarrassed. I'm really, really… shy." He admitted, looking everywhere but me with the blush still painted on his face.

I smiled and felt my butterflies. He thought I was pretty and he liked me. Nobody had ever said something like that to me before. At least not to my face.

I took a deep breath. "I think… you're really… cute, too." I admitted, also looking everywhere but him. I ate another spoonful of my pudding, the last spoonful.

"Really?" He asked, looking back at me. I looked back up at him and nodded. We both smiled and he scooted closer to me. I was panicking on the inside as he continued to lean closer to me. I didn't know what to do but I was pretty sure he wanted to kiss me.

Luckily the bell rang. I felt relief but smiled softly at Andrew as we both picked up our garbage and our book bags. I noticed just how tall he was when we stood, but he probably just seemed really tall because I was so short. I was really only 5' and a couple inches.

"Can I see you after school? Maybe we can get something to eat since we didn't finish our lunches." He said as we walked towards the school and threw our garbage in a trash can as we passed. I smiled and nodded.

"I'll meet you by the tree," I said, referring to the one we had just vacated. He smiled and nodded back. I had to get to class and I could see Sam waiting for me at the end of the hall. He was smirking at us and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He was so going to get an earful for spying on me. I awkwardly waved to Andrew and walked past him towards Sam. We had most of our classes together, thankfully.

"Wait," Andrew grabbed my hand gently to stop me. I turned back towards him. He quickly looked around, checking for something, before he quickly leaned down and kissed my lips. It was so quick that I was staring at him as he walked away in the opposite direction. My heart was thumping madly in my chest and it felt like it was trying to break free.

My first kiss. I smiled and touched my fingers to my lips as I turned back around.

"So is he your boyfriend now?" Sam teased as soon as I reached him. I just smiled and shrugged as we entered our English class. I hoped the rest of the day would pass quickly so I could meet up with Andrew again.

....

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read and commented and everything so far. I hope you guys all like it. I know this one was really short but the next one is longer and I'll update soon.


	3. Protecting You

**Chapter 3**

Andrew and I had met after school was over at the tree just like we had said. We mainly just talked but we did kiss again. Sam had told Dean and John that I was studying with a friend for a project that Sam had elected to do alone when John came to pick us up since I was all ready waiting at the tree.

Luckily the two bought it and Sam told them that I'd be finished in a few hours for them to pick me up. It'd probably only be Dean picking me up, which was fine.

"So you're adopted?" Andrew asked as we sat on the steps in front of the school, waiting for our rides. I nodded. "Did you ever know your parents?"

"No," I lied, "I was raised in an orphanage until I was adopted when I was five."

"Do you like living with the Taylor's?" That was our name at this school. We usually kept our first names but we changed our last names at almost every school we went to. It helped to cover our tracks.

"I love living with them. Sam and I are really close. We're basically each other's best friends. Dean's really protective of us." I said. He smiled and nodded. Our hands were clasped together in between us on the steps and by the way he was leaning forward I could tell he wanted to kiss again. I closed my eyes like the girls in the movies did when I felt his lips on mine. His lips started moving on mine and I was about to respond when somebody held down the horn on their car. We jumped and I hit his nose with my chin. I heard laughing and turned to see Dean in John's Impala laughing at us. I glared at him, knowing he was the one who honked the horn.

"Are you okay?" I asked, pulling his hands away from his nose. It wasn't broken, it wasn't even bleeding, but it did look sore and by the way my chin hurt a little, I knew I hit him pretty hard. "I'm sorry. That's Dean."

"It's okay. I see my mom's truck down the street anyway." He glanced over at Dean before quickly kissing my lips like he did in the hallway. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll meet you at the tree at lunch if we don't see each other beforehand." Dean honked the horn again and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I stood up and let go of Andrew's hand finally, grabbing my book bag and swinging it over my shoulder. "Bye, Andrew."

"Bye, Rose." He said, smiling, even though I could tell it hurt his nose to do so. I headed towards the Impala but glared at Dean as I bypassed the front passenger seat and sat in the back. I slammed the door and he quickly turned to glare at me.

"Don't take your anger out on this car." He admonished. I finally did roll my eyes and turned to stare out the window.

"You didn't have to be an asshole." I muttered as he drove off. I turned and watched Andrew get into an old Toyota truck talking to the lady driving who must have been his mom. I sat back in my seat, still staring out the window.

"You didn't notice that I had been waiting there for five minutes. I had to get your attention somehow." He smirked, turning into the motel parking lot.

"Whatever! You just pulled up. You were still driving into the lot with your horn blaring!" I argued.

"You shouldn't be kissing boys anyway Rosie." I hated the nickname he used. Only he called me Rosie, just like he was the only one who called Sam, Sammy. He turned around to face me. "You'll just get hurt."

"Don't feed me that bullshit!" I yelled at him, rushing out of the car and closing the door behind me gently. If John heard me slam the door I'd get a whole lot more than a lecture. "Sam and I caught you coming out of that janitor's closet ditching class with that blonde, busty bimbo!"

"Hey! Her name was Jennifer!" He argued, following after me. I quickly entered our room and closed the door in his face, but not before I heard him finish, "at least, I think that was her name."

I threw my bag on Sam's and my bed and barely acknowledged Sam and John who were at the table cleaning some blades that they would use to behead the vampires. It was the only way to kill them. They had stopped to watch Dean and me. They were completely used to us arguing and they had stopped trying to make us stop a long time ago. Dean would just always be an asshole. He couldn't help it.

"You don't even know her name!" I yelled at him as he came in, shutting the door behind him.

"It doesn't matter! I'm not attached to her." He said. I couldn't believe him.

"Was she attached to you? I'm pretty sure you have to seduce the girls you bring into closets with you. They don't show up on their own accord you know! You're hurting them every time you leave, especially with the things you tell them!" I saw him tense and I knew I was pushing his buttons. Good. I wanted him angry. He made me angry.

"He's just using you!" I wanted to slap him.

"Like you use all those girls?" I screamed. "You are such a hypocrite!"

"Well obviously I know what he's doing. He doesn't really like you! He's just doing all this to get into your precious little panties!" I heard John clear his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the way this argument was going.

It felt like Dean had stabbed me with one of the machetes on the table. I barely cried since the night my mom didn't come back but Dean always managed to get me to the point of tears. I stormed up close to him and if I was taller our noses would be touching.

"He actually likes me! And I like him! I don't care if we're leaving as soon as those vampires and their heads are lit on fire! I finally have something going for me that doesn't have to do with you Winchester's or anything supernatural and you're trying to rip that away from me!" I cried.

"Trust me, as soon as he finishes with you, he's going to dump you and move on to the next innocent vulnerable girl." He said. His voice was calm but mean. This time I couldn't hold back. The tears or the slap to his face. As soon as my hand made contact with his cheek I turned right around and locked myself in the bathroom, turning on the shower so I wouldn't hear what the three would whisper about me.

…

I was in the bathroom for hours, with the shower running the whole time. The steam from the first 45 minutes of hot water had dissipated since the water was cold now but I didn't bother turning it off. My tears didn't stop either and didn't care if any of the Winchester boys heard. I knew the conversation they had as soon as I locked the bathroom door behind me. I knew it like the back of my hand.

Sam would call Dean an asshole.

Dean would turn to glare at him, my hand print still left on his cheek in bright red, and John would tell Sam not to swear.

Then John would look at Dean and ask what happened.

Dean would tell them what he saw with me and Andrew with a lot of embellishments. He'd make Andrew sound like a complete douche.

Sam would defend Andrew and tell John that he was actually a really nice guy who seemed genuinely interested in me.

John would tell Dean to back off and ask Sam to find out as much about Andrew as possible.

This whole situation happened more than I cared to admit. Dean just couldn't stay out of my business and always had to interfere. The only thing different about this time was that I had actually done something with Andrew. It was the first time I had done anything with a boy other than holding hands and I knew John would try to have an awkward conversation with me about boys and girls and the differences and why it wasn't a good idea to get attached since we were constantly moving.

I heard a knock on the door but ignored them. It was probably John. If I didn't answer then he'd leave me alone. The only thing he was really scared of was my girl hormones. He was lucky I hadn't started my period yet. There was always a lot more tears and drama when I did.

I knew it wasn't John when they knocked again. I sniffed and wiped my tears with the back of my hand, reaching behind me to turn the shower off.

"Rose, it's Sam." He knocked again. "Dad and Dean left. They went to try and locate the nest. They won't be back for a while."

Good.

"Will you come out?" I sighed. And stood up, looking at myself in the mirror. The eyeliner I had put on this morning had smudged down my cheeks from the tears and from wiping them. I turned the sink on and splashed water on my face, washing away the make-up. I unlocked the door and opened it a crack to see Sam there. He stepped aside to show me that Dean and John were gone like he had said they were. When I noticed the table was empty and didn't see the two anywhere I took a deep breath and came out of the bathroom. Sam wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped mine around his waist. He gave the best hugs out of anyone I knew. Even though John was basically like a father to me, we didn't hug very often. At all really. He always kissed the top of my head though when he woke me up and I knew he cared.

Don't get me started on Dean.

But Sam always had a hug for me when I needed one, and I definitely needed one now.

"So, be warned," Sam said as he pulled away. "Dad's probably gonna talk to you about the whole kissing thing."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. I totally knew it.

"That's okay. He'll be so awkward that it'll be entertaining." We both laughed and I sat on our bed as Sam put some leftover take-out in the microwave for us to eat.

"Dean really does care about you, you know that right?" Sam said as he sat down beside me. I was flipping channels on the television and turned to stare at him.

"Could've fooled me." I muttered, grabbing one of the containers and digging in.

"We all care about you. We swore to protect you, the minute you called Dad ten years ago." Sam said. I felt touched. I knew they all cared about me, even Dean, but I didn't know that I had meant that much to them.

"We're always looking out for you." He added. He started to say something but shook his head and took a bite of his food instead.

"What?" I asked, wanting to know what he was going to say. I hated when people did that.

"When we were driving to get you that day, Dad told us that from then on, no matter where we were or how old we were, if he was there or not, that you were our first priority. If you were in trouble or hurt and needed help or whatever, that we had to protect you. Dean's disobeyed some of his orders before, but never that one. He promised that he would always protect you from everything." Sam smiled and I suddenly felt like the worst person in the world.

I knew that they cared about me and I knew that John had made them promise to keep an eye on me, just like John made Dean promise to look after Sam too. I didn't know Dean actually took it that seriously though. I felt a new kind of respect for Dean and I promised to make things easier for him.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to stop seeing Andrew while we're here." I muttered, too embarrassed to look up and meet Sam's gaze. He laughed.

"Nobody expected you to, trust me." I finally looked up and smiled with him.

…

Sam and I were in bed with the television still on when Dean and John finally came back. Sam had been asleep for an hour or so but I had been watching a movie and was still awake. It was around midnight when they came back and I pretended to be asleep. I usually did this because there were still some things that they didn't tell me that they talked about when I slept. Part of that whole pact to protect me I guessed. They were quiet as they came in and John let Dean have the bed again as he took the couch.

I heard Dean groan as he got into bed which probably meant that he had an injury that I'd have to help him with in the morning. I was usually the 'nurse' since the boys all preferred to suffer in silence sometimes. Soon I heard the couch creak and John began snoring soon after. I finally opened my eyes and noticed they had turned the television off. Great.

I looked over at Dean's bed but he wasn't moving. I felt like I should apologize for everything and all the crap I've given him. I turned to look at Sam and John but they were fast asleep.

"Dean," I whispered. He didn't answer, but I knew he wasn't completely asleep. His breathing was really loud and even when he slept. He didn't snore, only John did. You could always tell Sam was asleep because he was completely still.

"Dean," I whispered again, louder this time. I heard him shift as he sat up a little and I saw the outline of him turn towards me.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked. After what Sam had told me earlier, everything that Dean did and said around me made more sense. I crawled out of the bed I shared with Sam and kneeled down next to his, wrapping my arms around me a little. It was a bit chilly and I was only wearing pajama pants and a tank-top.

"I'm sorry I slapped you." I said. He chuckled and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw him shake his head.

"It's okay. I was kind of being a dick." He must have noticed that I was a little cold because he scooted away a little and pulled back the sheets so I could slip in the bed with him. When we were younger and got along a little better I usually took turns sleeping in Sam's bed and Dean's bed. John had always taken the couch unless he was really tired or wasn't feeling well, then he made Dean sleep on the couch and he'd take the second bed.

I had nightmares sometimes too, mainly about my dad dying but sometimes from the hunts too. A few times I had nightmares that the Winchester's left and I didn't have anyone. When I woke up from a nightmare I slipped into bed with Dean because even if he did piss me off a lot, I did feel a little safer with him than with Sam. Not that Sam wouldn't be able to keep me safe, because he could, but Dean just calmed me down from the nightmares faster than Sam did.

I slipped in and he wrapped the comforter up to my shoulder and we turned to face each other. I took a deep breath.

"I shouldn't have slapped you." I said. He smirked and my stomach flipped a little. What was that?

"I'm not so worried now if a guy hurts you, because that slap hurt like hell." I covered my mouth as I laughed. We both stopped and listened. John was still snoring and Sam was still.

"How did it go tonight?" I whispered.

"Good. We found the nest. Dad said we'll all go tomorrow night and get rid of them all." I grinned.

"Me too?" I asked.

"Yes, you too munchkin." I glared at him.

"Don't call me that." He chuckled.

"Well you are so short you're basically a midget."

"I'm not short." I pouted even though he was right. I was basically a midget.

"Oh yeah? What are you then? Because you sure as hell ain't tall."

"I'm fun size." I said, grinning. He laughed quietly and I bet anything he rolled his eyes. He put his arms underneath his pillow, I knew he had a dagger underneath, and let out a deep breath.

"It's time for bed, fun size." I smiled and laid my head down on the other pillow and I took in his smell as I closed my eyes. He smelled of leather, obviously since he was always wearing his leather jacket, and I really enjoyed it. He also had another smell that was nice to breathe in, I just couldn't place it.

"Night Dean," I murmured, sleep finally overtaking me.

"Night Rosie."

…

**I'm still getting used to formatting and everything on here so if it looks bad, I hope you'll bear with me. Thanks again to everyone who has left a review or added my story to their favorites/alerts. Like I promised, since the last one was so short, I updated early. More reviews would be nice. ****They always help me write better.**


	4. She's A Hunter

**Chapter 4**

I was waiting by the tree for Andrew. The other night I had gone with John and the boys and we kicked some vampire ass. There were probably 15 or so all there and I had beheaded four by myself. Then one had come up behind me and caught me by surprise. There had only been a few vampires left at that point, one less as Dean finished one off before they all noticed I was being held captive by one.

They had stopped fighting, trying to get me back. The vampire that had been holding me wasn't holding on to me very tightly. I remember locking eyes with John, begging to stall and hoping that what I was about to do wouldn't get me killed. John seemed to understand because he stepped forward a little and tried to reason with the vampire.

The vampire had taken my machete and was holding it against my neck and as John talked I felt the vampire's grasp slip a little bit more and I quickly grabbed the wrist that was holding the knife to my neck, twisted it, kicked the vampire in the stomach, and smashed the heel of my hand up her nose. She dropped the machete but I was expecting it to happen as I caught it and grabbed her hair, swinging the blade down as hard and fast as I could and successfully beheaded her.

The boys quickly got rid of the other few vampires left and we had gathered the bodies and heads all together and set fire to the large shack that the vampires had been living in.

I smiled as I remembered John telling me that he was really proud of me and how calm I had been and how well I managed the situation. And then he told me how proud my mom would have been of me. Yes, last night had been a really good night. However, we were leaving tomorrow since the job was finished and I had to tell Andrew.

He couldn't meet at lunch but he told me we'd meet after school was over. He just needed to hurry up because I knew John, Dean and Sam were waiting for me in the parking lot. John was probably getting impatient to get to the next job a few states away and the more time we spent here, the longer it would take us to get there.

I decided to go looking through the school quickly to see if maybe he was talking to some of his friends or a teacher. I didn't see him in the halls or in any of the classrooms and the cafeteria was all ready locked so I decided to check the gym and then head back out to the tree. When I opened the door to the gym I was surprised to see the bleachers were set out. They were usually pushed against the wall unless they had an assembly or something. I didn't see anyone but then I heard a giggle.

"Hello?" I called. It was probably none of my business but I was really curious. I stepped in and let the door close behind me as I walked in farther. I had to look quickly just in case Andrew was at the tree finally but I couldn't stop my curiosity. I walked past the bleachers and heard something drop as it echoed through the gym. I looked at the top of each bleacher and couldn't believe who was giggling at the top of the last one.

Andrew and one of the girls from the group of friends that had been laughing at us Laughing at me, I realized, on the first day when we had lunch together. They were making out. I didn't even acknowledge that I saw them and left as quietly as I came in. I couldn't believe that Dean had been right. Andrew had seemed like he really did like me but I shook my head and tried to get the nagging hurt feeling off my chest. I took a few deep breaths as I walked down the hall and groaned as I bumped into Dean when I turned the corner. He didn't notice that I was upset, or he ignored it, as he grabbed my arm and turned back the way he had come.

"Come on, Dad wants to get going." He said, pulling me with him. I couldn't help as a few tears left a trail down my cheeks and wiped them away before Dean turned around and gave me a soft smile.

"How did Andrew take it?" He asked. I sighed, maybe he did notice I was upset but thought it was for a different reason. I laughed bitterly.

"Great," I said, speeding up past him and out the front doors of the school, ready to leave. The Impala was parked and John was standing at the open trunk. I pulled out my walkman, not really up for listening to his music and tossed my bag in the back. I inwardly groaned when I saw Sam in the front seat, meaning that I'd have to sit next to Dean.

I took my seat behind Sam and ignored them all as I put my headphones on and flipped the tape over and hit play. Heart started playing and I quickly turned it up as Dean got into the back, next to me. I could feel him staring at me but I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window.

I was a hunter; there wouldn't be any more time for boys or romantic feelings. If one wanted to fool around that was fine, but I wouldn't let myself fall for anyone again. I was born to be a hunter, and hunters never settled down. It wasn't part of our lifestyle.

...

At the next school we ended up at Sam and I quickly made a bunch of friends who invited us to their homecoming party. Sam and I had begged and pleaded for John to let us go to the school's homecoming dance and the party afterwards. We were usually never allowed to go to any school events because it went along the rules that John had set up for us. His rule was that we weren't supposed to attach ourselves to people because it made it harder to leave (John backed the rule up with what had happened at the last school with Andrew).

For some reason Dean convinced him to let us go, promising to take us there and then pick us up later at the party and we promised that we wouldn't stay later than midnight. We were in town to find a demon that had been convincing people to kill themselves and a few of them had been students at our new school. Which was probably another reason why John let us go, so that we could keep an eye out and see if maybe one of the students was actually the demon.

Regardless, Dean had taken us to a thrift store so that we could get something formal to wear. Sam luckily had a pair of slacks and a white button down shirt and shoes, but he still needed a tie and I wanted to find a nice dress to wear. Dean was looking at what was in the jewelry case, obviously bored while waiting for us. I was looking through the dresses but there was really only a lot of ugly bridesmaid dresses.

I thumbed through until I found a dark blue silky material and I pulled it out. It was a sleeveless dress that had a black sash tied high up the waist, basically under the chest. I found the dressing room and went inside, slipping my clothes off as I tried on the dress. I grinned as I zipped it up. It fit perfectly and it was only ten bucks. This was definitely the dress. Luckily I had a pair of black heels, for the same reason Sam all ready had slacks and a button down; for when we had to pretend to be church goers or whatever while John investigated a job.

I quickly redressed and left the dressing room. Dean was smiling at the cashier who was a much older lady as he bought something. He slipped the change and whatever the purchase was into his pocket. I was vaguely interested in what he had bought but I saw Sam walking towards me with three different ties.

"Which one should I get?" He asked me. He was holding a green one, a red and blue striped tie and a dark blue tie. I pointed at the dark blue one.

"We'll match." I told him, showing off the dress. He smiled and agreed, ditching the other two ties and we met up with Dean who was still at the counter talking with the old lady. I rolled my eyes as we put our things on the counter for her to ring up. All together the purchase was less than $15 which was perfect since whatever Dean had gotten was $5 and John had given him a twenty for us to spend.

As we walked out, excited for the dance the next day, I asked Dean what he had gotten.

"Nothing," he said and got into the Impala. I rolled my eyes but called shotgun. Sam groaned and got into the backseat as I grinned and raced to the front passenger seat. We drove back to the motel because John decided that the only way we deserved to go to the homecoming was if we went through drills for the rest of the night. As much as I hated doing the drills that John set up for us it didn't matter, because for one night Sam and I were going to be normal teenagers.

When we got back to the motel John wasn't there, which told us he was probably out still setting the drills up. I set my dress down on the table, laying it flat so it didn't get any crinkles in it and I took out my heels to make sure they still fit. I hadn't worn them in a while so I wasn't sure. When I made sure that they did I set them under the table and quickly put my socks and converse on, along with a pair of Dean's old basketball shorts that I wore when we did drills and a black beater that had belonged to either Dean or Sam. I had a few from both.

As I was putting my hair into a ponytail John came in and rushed us out. He was making Dean do the drills too so we were all dressed to work out for the rest of the night. John got into the Impala and waited for us to warm up and then started driving and we jogged after him. He led us to the empty field where he set up the drills and we didn't wait for him to get out of the car as we started running through the course. It was usually the same military styled layout with things to climb up, crawl through, run after, run from, shoot and defend. The whole time we were being timed.

Amazingly I was leading the boys as I dropped to the ground, seeing the mud and the barbed wire he had found and set up. I army crawled underneath, not caring how dirty I got. It hadn't bothered me for years. I was all ready having trouble breathing from the run over so I paused for a millisecond to see who was behind me. Dean was a close second and Sam wasn't far behind. I was usually bringing up the rear so I continued through; hoping to prove that all my hard work had deserved me a break.

I was still in the lead after I finished climbing up the ropes that John had tied at the top of a tall tree. I cursed him mentally and wondered how the hell he had tied it all the way up there. He had to have climbed the tree itself to get it up there. Once I got to the top of the rope I knew that we would have to climb down the actual tree and I was glad that I was so good at it. It was one of my favorite parts of the courses he'd set up.

I heard Dean groan.

"How the hell is she going so fast?" He muttered to Sam as they started climbing the ropes. We passed when I was more than halfway down and I smirked at them. This meant I'd be the first to choose out of the three different weapons John set up. They were usually different in each course but I was always left with some form of knife. I hated using knives especially since I was so good at the bow and arrow. I grinned when I saw a crossbow up ahead with eight arrows next to it. John only ever gave us enough ammo for the amount of targets he set up. We only had one chance to hit the target.

I picked up the crossbow and swung the case of arrows over my head, continuing quickly when I felt it land on my back. I loaded one arrow immediately, knowing that the first target would show up soon. I saw the first target, marked with the Roman numeral one and aimed and shot. It wasn't a bulls-eye but it was damn near close. I quickly reloaded and found target II. When I finished hitting the bulls-eye on target VIII, I held the bow close to my body as I found the trail John had marked which led to the end of the course and back to him.

We weren't finished, I knew what came next. I quickly took apart the bow and loaded it in the open truck where it was supposed to go and jogged back to the motel. It was five or so miles away but it didn't matter how tired I was when I got there. I finally beat the Winchester boys and I knew that John would give whoever came in last a lot of crap about being beaten by a girl. He usually didn't mind if I came in last since I was always close behind whoever was in front of me. He knew that the boys were stronger physically, mentally and emotionally so he expected them to lead the pack.

When I got to the motel I noticed lock picks sticking out from under the mat that I knew John had stuck there. I lifted the mat and saw three so I grabbed one and looked around, breathing harder than I ever remembered, before I bent down to pick the lock. I heard the click and pushed the door open, locking it behind me. I noticed three water bottles that John must have set out that we didn't notice before and I eagerly grabbed one before gathering clothes together and headed to the shower, chugging the bottle down as I went.

As I started the shower I heard the lock getting picked and smirked when I heard Dean groan as he plopped on the bed. Poor Sam was gonna get a lecture or have to do push-ups and sit-ups tonight while Dean and I cleaned the weapons or did research.

I came out of the bathroom dressed and clean and smirked at the two boys lying on their beds, wiped out.

"I thought that was a great workout." I teased, sitting next to Sam on our bed. "Man, you stink."

"How the hell did you get so far ahead of us?" Dean moaned. I shrugged.

"Just really excited to go to homecoming tomorrow I guess." I said. John came in then, shutting the door behind him.

"Boys, you stink to high heavens. Get in the shower before you make Rose and I sick." He said, hitting Sam over the head with the rolled up paper targets in his hand. He kissed the top of my head as he passed and I couldn't help but smile more and be proud of myself.

"You hit 5 perfect targets out of the 8 Rosemary, and the other three were nearly perfect as well. You should stick with the bow from now on." He said. Both the boys and I stared at John in amazement as he went back out to get something in the Impala. Dean looked over at me as Sam quickly claimed the shower next.

"That's the first compliment any of us has ever gotten out of him." He said in awe. "What the hell did you do?"

I just shrugged. I guess the whole Andrew thing had really made me push myself. I could definitely use that to my advantage.

...

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or added the story to their favorites or anything. I appreciate it a lot. It makes it a lot more fun to write it when I know that other people are enjoying it too. Please review if you read :) it might make me post the next chapter sooner.**


	5. A Hunter's Homecoming

**Hey, so I'm putting my author's note in the beginning just as a sort of fair warning. There's a small sex scene and use of illegal substance as well as underage drinking. It's all very light and not graphic at all but I just figured it's better to warn you if you're uncomfortable with it at all. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or added the story to their favorites. Every notice I get makes me smile and makes me write more. :)  
**

**So, without further ado:**

...  
...

**Chapter 5**

Sam and I met up with the group of friends who had basically adopted us into their group at one of their houses. It was the one that we'd end up at for the party afterwards so Dean didn't get confused when he came to pick us up. Sam got out of the backseat to join them in the front lawn. He looked really good in his slacks and white button down. The tie matched perfectly to my dress which made me happy because it gave us an excuse that we were each other's dates. It would come in handy if someone creepy tried to ask me to dance, just in case.

I opened the door to get out, setting my feet firmly on the ground. I was usually really good in heels and didn't trip but I hadn't worn them in a while so I didn't know yet if I was going to fall on my face or not.

"Hey, wait a sec," Dean said. He turned the engine off and I pulled my feet back in and shut the door behind me. I saw Sam turn to look where I was but he rolled his eyes and kept walking towards the group.

"Don't worry about us tonight Dean. Sam planted a gun in the gym just in case and," I reached up my dress and felt the holster, taking my knife out and showed it to him without letting anyone outside see it before I put it securely back in place in the holster attached high up on my leg. The dress was only knee length, so my usual holster would have been very noticeable on my shin but Dean's holster fit perfectly on my upper thigh.

"I'm not worried, I know you guys can handle yourselves." He turned and looked me dead in the face, locking his hazel eyes onto my brown ones. "Just, promise me a few things, okay?"

I nodded. He sighed and rubbed his face before looking out at the group.

"You're not getting attached?" I shook my head. "And you'll stick with Sam all night unless, you know, you have to go to the bathroom."

"I promise." I told him. And I really did promise. Sam and I never got to do any special things like this. Dean never wanted to, but Sam and I always had. I definitely wasn't going to ruin any chances that it might happen again. I definitely wanted to go to prom as a senior at least. If tonight went fine then there was a good chance that John would let Sam and I do more special school events.

"You guys look really good tonight," Dean said, clearing his throat. He reached over to the glove compartment. "I know you don't have any jewelry and uh, Dad and I didn't want you to be jealous that the other girls did."

He pulled out a small white plastic bag. I was very confused, what was he getting at? He reached into the bag and pulled out a blue crystal ball necklace. I gasped at how pretty it was.

"You bought that for me?" I asked, extremely touched. His cheeks were red and he fumbled with it in his hands before he held it out for me.

"Dad and I decided you deserved something nice." I grinned and put it on, looking at it in the side mirror before turning back to Dean and pulling him into a hug.

"Thank you so much," I said quietly. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged back.

"No problem." He said, pulling back. He coughed once and looked back out at the group. Sam was talking, or flirting, with one of the girls. I think her name was Heather. I couldn't remember. "I'll be right here to pick you guys up at midnight. On the dot, okay? No dilly-dallying."

"Dilly-dallying?" I asked, laughing at the words he chose. "Such a girl." He rolled his eyes.

"Get outta here fun size." I laughed again and opened the door. "Have a good time."

I closed the door and waved as he left. I knew he lied about his dad being a part of getting the necklace. I reached up and played with it in my fingers. This had been what he got at the thrift store. I didn't care if it had only been $5, especially since he bought it at a thrift store. Everything there was extremely underpriced and it was beautiful. He was embarrassed about it so I wouldn't bring it up or call him on the lie. I knew it took a lot for him to show much emotion other than sarcasm or anger.

I joined the group and one of the girls, Taylor, hugged me as I waved to everyone.

"That's your older brother?" She asked. I nodded. "You have got to try and hook me up with him. He's so hot!"

I smiled but definitely wouldn't mention to Dean that she thought so. I knew that he'd actually think about hooking up with her even though she was a freshman and he was a senior. But I told her that I would.

Peter, whose house we were at, whined as his mom started taking pictures of the group and then the separate dates. She took a few of Sam and I together and when she had decided she had enough she promised that before her and her husband left she'd print out lots of copies of them all for us to pick up at the party later. Peter's parents didn't care that he was having lots of people over afterwards, obviously, since they were getting a hotel for the night.

We rode in a limo to the school, which didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I didn't complain. When else would I get the chance to ride in a limousine? Probably never, so I sat back and joked around with everyone. We were 'fashionably late' according to Heather (I had gotten her name right) since Peter's mom took all those pictures and she decided for all of us that it was a good thing.

The dance itself was fun. Sam and I didn't know any of the music really since John and Dean preferred old rock like Blue Oyster Cult and AC/DC and that was all we ever listened to in the car. Regardless we danced like crazy fools with the rest of the group and even danced to some of the slower songs. We decided not to take pictures at the dance since they were expensive and had to be mailed to you and we didn't exactly have a permanent shipping address but some of our friends included us in theirs. It made me wonder if they would remember who we were ten years from now when they took out the pictures again.

Sam and I were resting at one of the tables, drinking punch and making sure that the gun he had planted in the bleachers was still there and that the safety was still on when a brown haired boy who I was pretty sure was a junior asked me to dance. Taylor had brought a flask full of her dad's vodka so I was pretty tipsy and I looked at Sam. He shrugged and nodded, letting me know that he would be fine. I noticed it was a slow song and I didn't mind as he grabbed my hand and led me to the middle of the large group of dancing teenagers.

"I'm Justin," He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I put my arms around his neck, clasping my fingers together. I was lucky that my heels were pretty high because this guy was quite a few inches taller than I was. It was no more difficult than dancing with Sam though, so I did fine.

"I'm Rosemary," I said, and then the alcohol made me giggle. I hoped that it would wear off by the time midnight came around. I knew Dean would have no problem letting John know that I had been drinking if he found out. And that would ruin any chances of a prom during senior year. "You can call me Rose though."

"That's a really pretty name," He said, his voice was husky and it made butterflies erupt in the pit of my stomach.

"Thank you," I said, leaning my forehead against his shoulder. We talked a bit longer, throughout the dance, and when the song was over he didn't pull away right away like I kind of had expected him too.

"Do you want to get out of here for a while?" I watched his eyes and I could tell that he had probably had a bit to drink tonight too and for some reason I knew exactly what would happen if I left the gym with him.

I grinned and kissed his lips slowly, pulling away before he could respond. "Where should we go?"

He led me down the hall and started trying to open any door, but the only one that would open was the janitor closet. Go figure.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me in quickly after him. Once the door was closed he pushed me against the door and started kissing me, locking the door while he did so. Neither of us bothered with turning on the lights.

He started kissing down my neck and playing with the end of my dress and I panicked when I remembered my knife holster. I quickly reached down and unbuckled it with one hand while my other hand skillfully unbuckled his belt. I set the holster on one of the shelves, making sure that I'd remember it before I left. Dean would kill me if I lost it.

I pulled him back a little.

"You have to know," I told him, a little wary and embarrassed to say so, "that I'm a virgin."

He grinned and kissed me, adding a little tongue to it and I followed his lead, not knowing how the hell I knew how to do any of this. When he pulled away he licked his lips.

"That's okay but it's gonna hurt, just so you know." I nodded, having taken several sex-ed classes plus the clinics that John made me go to when I started my period for the first time in 7th grade. Holy shit that had been mortifying, but because of them I knew what to expect.

I knew he must have been on one of the sports teams when he lifted both my legs around his waist after he took off my underwear. He had my back pressed against the door still and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I moaned in pleasure as I felt him between my legs but bit down on his shoulder when the pain erupted. I was definitely glad that I had been tipsy because doing that sober would have been far worse.

I managed to buckle the holster back on when he had his back turned to find his tie that I had thrown across the closet and he kissed me hard before looking out the closet to make sure the coast was clear. I detoured into the girl's bathroom to fix my hair and make sure my make-up wasn't too horribly smudged but my heart dropped when I noticed that my necklace was gone.

"Shit," I cursed and ran back to the closet, thankful that it was open still. This time I turned on the light so it would be easy to find but I screamed bloody murder when I saw that one of the chaperones had hung themselves from the pipes on the ceiling.

I couldn't believe that the whole time I had been losing my virginity to some jock there had been a dead body hanging only a few feet away. Teachers had swarmed down the hall when they heard me scream, amazingly over the speakers in the gym, but I guess a couple of them had been roaming the hallways all night.

The cops had come and all the students were sent home. I had told one of the cops that my necklace fell into the closet when I found the body and I managed to get it back, thankfully in one piece. I quickly clasped it back around my neck. One of the paramedics that had come with the whole brigade had sat me down farther down the hall with a cup of water and an itchy blanket. I wasn't shaken up as much as everyone thought I was because I'd been seeing stuff like this for as long as I could remember. It was just the fact that I had been having sex only a few feet away that really irked me and made me nauseous, to be honest. I was just really glad to have my necklace back and I held the crystal in my hand as I leaned my head back against the wall with my eyes closed.

"FBI, Detective Wayne, I'm taking over this case." I looked up and tried not to smile as I saw John there, flashing his fake at the cops.

"This is an _obvious_ suicide Detective," one of the cops said.

"How many suicides have you guys had in the past two weeks?" John asked to make a point.

"More than a dozen," the cop answered. John nodded.

"So _obviously_," John mocked, "there's something more than suicide going on here."

"Rosemary!" I looked down the opposite end of the hall and saw Dean jogging up. One of the cops stopped him, telling him it was a crime scene and that he couldn't pass. John glared at the cop holding him back.

"_Obviously_," he said, still mocking the cop from before, "he's here to take this poor girl home. Let him through Officer."

The cop looked at the others but they all shrugged so he let Dean through. I stood up, the blanket falling off my shoulders and wrapped my arms around him. I only noticed then how sore I was from earlier and I almost fell over since my legs felt like jelly.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking genuinely worried. He wasn't acting for the cops around us. I nodded. "Sam left with the others. They never heard what happened, so he's at that guy's house."

He led me outside to the Impala and helped me get in. I'm glad that he did help because I was having trouble walking. I couldn't tell if he thought I was drunk or what but he pulled something out of the inside of his leather jacket and set it on his lap as he started the car.

"You look way more shaken up than you should be. You've seen way more gruesome stuff than a body hanging by a rope." He said. He knew something was up. "If you tell me the truth about why you were looking in the janitor's closet then I'll help come up with a lie that I'll tell my dad."

He was watching me out of the corner of his eye. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I really didn't want to get into this with him, or John or Sam. But I knew I'd have to come up with a good enough lie for Dean to believe; otherwise all three would know what I was doing in the closet.

"Some jackass took my necklace when we were dancing and told me I'd find it in one of the closets in the hall." I said, trying to look him dead on.

We all knew how to tell if one of us was lying. John gave us a list that we had to memorize so that we'd know when investigating a case. Dean was really good at knowing when Sam or I were lying. Nobody knew when John was lying.

There are three things to look for: eye contact, fidgeting and back tracking. I think the only thing that would have given me away was the stuttering. But that was just because I had had those drinks. The alcohol was basically out of system, I was just feeling nauseous but that could have been from everything in general.

"Nice try, but Sammy told me he saw you running into the hall with some jock on your own free will." He pulled over and I noticed we were at the field that John had sent us through the drills the other day. "I told you if you just told me the truth I'd deal with Dad."

He turned straight towards me. I could tell he wasn't angry, but he was definitely doing that protective thing. I kept my eyes forward and sighed while looking out at the field.

"Will you just tell me if you used a condom?" He said. I looked at him in horror. How did he know?!

"How?" I asked meekly. He rolled his eyes.

"Please, do you know how many times I've done it in a closet? I know the signs Rosie." I groaned and hid my face in my hands. He pulled my hands away and looked me in the eyes. "I just want to know if you're okay, all right?"

I gulped and nodded.

He picked up the little white stick that he had taken from his pocket and started searching his pockets for something.

"So you guys were doing the nasty with a dead corpse hanging a few feet away?" He said. My stomach churned and I opened the door to get some fresh air. He laughed. "That's just wrong."

"Dean, please stop." I pleaded, tears springing in my eyes. I managed to keep them from falling. "It was a stupid mistake and I'm paying for it."

"One more thing," I turned to look at him. I finally realized what was in his hand when he started to light the end with a match he found. I didn't know that he smoked. "I realize you're in pain since this was your first time and all and that you're shaking and freaked out. That's why I'm sharing this with you."

He inhaled and rolled down the window quickly to blow out the smoke from the joint.

"But if you tell Dad or Sammy, I'll kick your ass." He said, handing it to me. I took it and followed his direction. "And I'll tell them what you were really doing in that closet."

We were effectively calm as we went to pick up Sam from Peter's house. The group gathered at the door to stare at me in the car but I just ignored them and stared at the floor of the car.

"Stoner," Dean whispered with a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes.

"Hypocrite."

"Baby."

"Slut." I smirked. Dean gave me a fake look of offense.

"That was mean!" He said. I laughed. Sam was talking to Heather and she was handing him something which I figured were the pictures from earlier.

"So what are we telling the other two?" I asked Dean, worried again about them finding out. I was still a little mortified that Dean knew but it was better if it was just him and not all three Winchester's.

"Leave it to me," He said quietly as Sam hugged her and started making his way to the Impala. He settled into the back seat and leaned forward to show me the pictures.

"We are some good looking people," I said, flipping through the pictures. I was glad that we looked happy. I had been beginning to wonder if I actually knew what happy felt like.


	6. The Hunters Are Fighting

**Chapter 6**

**December 16, 2000**

I was in the bathroom waiting for Sam and John to finish yelling at each other. They had started while I was in the shower and I was all ready finished getting dressed and putting on my make-up. I even had time to mess with my hair and maybe find something different then putting it up in a pony tail, but I ended up with two simple braids.

They had been fighting a lot recently and they usually ended with one of the two leaving for a few hours and then coming back and ignoring the other until they started bickering. Then the bickering would escalate into a disagreement which would start an argument and then they'd be back to yelling at each other about how Sam wanted out.

He wanted to go to college and have a normal life. I kind of had the same hopes for a little while, but now I knew that no matter where I went the hunt would always find me. There would always be something wrong and there weren't a lot of people who could fix it. We could fix it though. We knew how to do it and we were damn good at it.

I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror. I just finished brushing my teeth for the third time. They were looking sparkly and white. It impressed me since we'd never had any dental things like braces or retainers and we didn't need them. We all had pretty straight teeth. Although we did have to have our wisdom teeth out and that sucked a lot of nuts. Especially since we had them done between hunts and we were drugged up on pain killers and driving across the country. Needless to say we didn't all get them done at once.

I wondered where Dean had gone to. Maybe he had gone somewhere. Now that we were older John sent us on hunts in pairs. He only ever let us do research if we weren't with him. Usually him and Dean would pair together since I was really the only one Sam got along with anymore. Sometimes though I'd go with John or Dean but it was very rare that that ever happened. John now had a truck and the Impala was technically Deans, except when we split off from each other.

I jumped when I heard the door slam and I wondered who walked out this time. Last time it had been Sam. I sighed and rinsed off my toothbrush and gathered my dirty clothes from before and finally came out of the bathroom. Sam jumped and turned when he heard me come out but then ignored me and started flipping through channels on the television. The two of them had probably forgotten that I had been in the bathroom the whole time.

"You wanna talk?" I asked him, gently. He shook his head and kept going through all the channels. Not like there were many to go through. He just kept going around and around. I pulled out my homework, thankful that I had such a light load. Sam and I were finally seniors and we had done a few sessions of summer school so that we could have the lightest class schedule our last year of school.

My cell phone started vibrating and I pulled it out of my sweatshirt. Dean was calling.

"What's up?" I asked, quickly solving my math problems. This stuff was seriously what I was doing in sophomore year. I'm glad I learned so much with the little time I had with my mom. It made me push myself harder with the Winchester's.

"Are the two ladies done fighting?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Who left this time?"

"Your dad did. Are you coming back soon?" I pulled my calculator that I used to check my answers and plugged the problem in.

"I was just stopping to get something to eat. You or Sam hungry?" I turned to look at Sam but he had turned off the T.V. and was reading a book.

"You hungry Sam?" I asked. He shook his head and turned the page. I sighed and looked back at my homework.

"I'll have some chicken tenders or something." I said, not all that hungry. I knew that John was making Sam and I watch this lady's house all night to make sure the demon we were hunting didn't attack. I'd end up hungry later and we wouldn't be able to leave if I didn't eat something now. "With ranch to dip please."

"All right Rosie, no problem. I'll be there in a little bit. If Dad gets back before I do just go hide in the bathroom again. I don't want you in the middle of their fight." I agreed and then hung up, setting down the phone so that I could finish my calculus.

"Don't you want something different?" Sam asked suddenly. I turned to look at him. He was watching me now since he had set his book on the stand next to the bed.

"Then chicken tenders? Not really." I muttered, finishing the last problem and then checking it on my calculator.

"I meant a different life." He said, sitting up and leaning forward. "You are so smart and talented. You could do anything you wanted to, but you still follow his orders. You don't have to anymore. He's not your dad and you're 18."

I sighed and went to sit next to him, bumping my shoulder playfully into his arm. He had grown a foot since we were freshmen but I had barely grown an inch. I felt like a midget next to him.

"I did," I told him, honestly. "For a really long time. Now though… it just doesn't seem right to do anything other than hunting. I feel like I owe it to my mom and to your dad. They both sacrificed so much to take care of me and to teach me."

"You don't owe them anything," Sam told me. "You are still a kid. We both are. I mean, if Dad didn't want to give us a choice, why would he have made us go to school and graduate high school?"

"To babysit us?" I said. He sighed and shook his head.

"There's so much more to life than hunting. Why can't anyone see it but me?" He turned to look at me and I looked into his eyes. He really didn't want to be here anymore. It kind of stung that my best friend wasn't happy with what he had. It made me feel like I kind of failed him in a way, like I could have made it better for him. He definitely made this all better for me.

"I think it's because there isn't more for us." He stood up and turned away from me. "But I believe you that there is more for you."

He turned back to me and I saw his hands clenched into fists.

"Come with me." He said. I slowly stood and shook my head.

"Where?" I asked. "We don't have anywhere to go."

"It doesn't matter. We know how to scam credit cards, we'll get a place. Together. We'll find jobs so we won't have to steal money anymore. We'll go to school." He was determined. He moved right in front of me and grabbed my hands tightly in his. "We don't need Dad and we definitely don't need Dean. We'll show them that we can do this, that they were wrong and that we can have a life other than hunting. We can be happy."

"Sam," I whispered. I shook my head, tears pooling in my eyes. "I… I can't."

"We can Rose. Together, we can." He cupped the side of my face with his hand and I leaned into the touch. Could we?

Maybe he was right. We were definitely capable enough and smart enough. I gazed into his eyes. He was certainly determined to do this with or without me.

"Sam," I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.

He leaned down and I had flashbacks from Andrew in 9th grade at one of the schools we attended. My heart fluttered and I rose up on my toes slowly to give me a little more height just as our lips met. I tilted my head to the side a little as our lips began to move and I felt his tongue across my lips.

I was kissing Sam. I was kissing my best friend. Now it was more than just kissing. Where was his hand going? Where the hell did Sam learn to do this?

I felt his hand brush down against my side as both his hands wrapped around my waist and brought me closer. When I pressed my hands to his chest I suddenly seemed to realize where we were and what we were doing. I stepped back, out of his hold.

He grabbed my hand to stop me from moving back.

"Wait," he sighed. "We probably shouldn't have done that."

I felt… relieved?

"But just," he stepped closer again and I noticed how fast and loud my heart was beating. "We'll think about it, okay? We'll finish high school and then we'll decide."

He still looked upset and I wondered if it was partially because of the kiss. What did he really think about that?

"You're still going to do it though, aren't you?" I asked as I finally heard the Impala's engine in the parking lot outside. He was back on the bed, reading his book and I wondered how nonchalant he was going to be about all this. He looked up at me and I saw the determination and anger in his eyes still.

"Yes." He said. "With or without you, after we graduate I'm going to college. We all ready sent in our applications."

"Right," I sighed.

Dean opened the door and came inside. He narrowed his eyes as he looked from me to Sam.

"What happened?" He asked, looking at me. I rubbed my face and felt how wet it was, realizing that I must have been crying.

"Nothing," Sam said, not looking up from his book. Dean raised an eyebrow but didn't question it as he set my food on the table. Tonight was going to be awkward.

"All right then."

...

...  
**I didn't get a lot of reviews for the last chapter :(. I know that this one is short, and kinda late. I'll usually try to update on Sunday's, but I've just had a lot of other stuff to do. Blah, blah, blah. Anyway, please leave me some more reviews for this ridiculously short chapter. If I get enough then I'll update the next chapter before my regular Sunday posting. Happy St. Patrick's day!**


	7. The Hunters Are Hunting

**Chapter 7**

When John came back he decided that Dean and I were going to go stake out the house and I was a little worried about leaving Sam and him alone all night. When I had looked to Dean to see what he thought he just motioned for me to leave it alone. I couldn't believe what was happening. It felt like everything was falling apart. Not a day went by that John and Sam weren't fighting.

They both had valid points too, they were just so freaking stubborn that they wouldn't really listen to each other. They both thought that they were right and the other was wrong. I was surprised that we had made it this far.

Sitting in the motel until we had to leave was awkward, to say the least. Dean and I finished eating the food he got us and while I continued to finish my homework (only a paper for English and a fake business plan for Economics) he was making sure that our guns and such were cleaned and ready to use, if needed.

We left the motel once it got dark and headed over to the house we were supposed to watch. Dean parked down the street but made sure that we'd be able to watch the whole house. Once all the lights downstairs were off, I grabbed my gun, a Smith and Wesson that John gave me for my last birthday, and checked to make sure it was loaded.

"I'm going to go check around the back of the house," I told him after I checked the safety. He nodded as he looked through his binoculars.

"Be careful." I nodded, not caring if he saw or not and quietly got out of the car. I tucked my gun into the back of my jeans and pulled my jacket over it. It was drizzling slightly which didn't help my mood at all. I was still going over that kiss with Sam in my mind. He was only my friend, I'd never thought of him as more than that.

Did he think of me as more than that? I sighed and checked to see if there were any signs up indicating if there was a dog in the backyard. I didn't see one and took my chances with opening the gate and slipping through. You'd be surprised how many times I'd gotten attacked by dogs. A good portion of the scars that I've accumulated over the years were from bites and scratches.

It made me want my own dog to protect me. Probably a German Sheppard since they were loyal protective dogs. I didn't see any signs of dogs or demons in the back yard and the only light that was on in the house was one upstairs. I guessed it was the parents' bedroom. They had one daughter too, but John told us that he had figured out that her bedroom was in the front of the house.

I didn't see any signs of sulfur or anything else that would indicate a demon had been here. However it had rained earlier so it might have washed away if there was any. I quickly made my way back to Dean and the Impala, making sure that the gate closed completely behind me.

"Anything?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing, but the rain earlier might have washed something away." I said. He nodded, looking up at the house as the parents' bedroom light went out. He looked at the clock, it was around 10 o'clock. We definitely had a long night ahead of us. I really wanted to listen to some angry girl music, or scream. What was Sam doing?

I let out an aggravated sigh and bent forward over my lap, running my hands over my face.

"What happened earlier? In the motel with you and Sam?" He asked. I shook my head. "You can talk to me."

Since that night Sam and I had gone to homecoming Dean and I were definitely a lot closer. We barely argued, but that could very well be because we were tired with having to listen to Sam and John fight all the time.

"Does Sam like me?" I asked finally, looking up at Dean.

"What do you mean Rosie?" He asked, confused. "Of course he likes you. I thought you and Sammy were like, best friends forever or whatever."

"No," I said, looking away from him and towards the house. "Does he… _like_ me."

Dean didn't say anything and I had to look to make sure he heard me. He was staring at me with wide eyes. He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable and looked away.

"Do…" he started, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you _like_ Sammy?"

I shook my head quickly.

"Not like that, no." I told him. It was true. I only ever had platonic feelings for Sam. "He's like the brother I never had. Or wanted."

Dean seemed to relax a little.

"Thank God. I was afraid you were going to ask me to talk to him for you about that." He smirked. "You know how I feel about chick flick moments."

I laughed.

"You know we're kind of having a chick flick moment right now anyway?" I asked. He glared at me.

"It's only one if I say it is." I raised my eyebrows and nodded sarcastically. "This is **not** a chick flick moment."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I said, laughing.

"Baby," he said.

"Slut," I shot back. I laughed to myself. Like I could talk. I definitely had my fair share of one night stands. Luckily I wasn't as obvious as Dean about them, so Sam and John only ever found out about a couple. They thought my first time was last year. They'd be horrified, probably, to hear when my first time had actually been.

"But I have to know," he said, back to the topic from earlier. "What was going on with you and Sam when I showed up? You were definitely crying and he was definitely ignoring the big red elephant in the room."

"I don't know if you do really want to know," I told him honestly. He probably didn't.

"Just tell me." He demanded. I rolled my eyes, he asked for it.

"Sam asked me to leave with him after we graduate and then he kissed me."

Dean didn't have anything to say. He just stared at me.

"Do you want to leave?" He asked, very quiet. I don't think I'd ever heard him speak that quietly. He kind of sounded like a wounded puppy. I turned to look at him. He was serious.

"No." I told him, sternly. He let out a breath that he had been holding in. "I couldn't walk away from this life. It's been pounded into me since I can remember. I don't know how to do anything else."

"That's good." He said. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Stupid Winchester's and being able to keep their emotions and thoughts to themselves. They always knew how I felt or what I was thinking.

We were quiet for a long time as we watched the house. Nothing was happening and it was nearing one in the morning. It had started raining a quarter after midnight and Dean let me huddle a little closer to him for warmth. The engine was loud and we didn't want to keep it running for heat. It wasted gas anyway and I hated when John left his truck on when waiting for something. I was nodding off with my head bobbing back and forth between his shoulder and the back of the seat. We definitely should have picked up some coffee before we came here.

"Rose, do you see that?" He asked, pointing to the house. I quickly leaned forward to look out the window. There was flickering coming from one of the rooms; I guessed the little girl's room. It looked like a television had been left on, except in this profession it was barely ever just the television.

"Do you think that's the demon?" I asked, grabbing the binoculars to get a better look. I saw a large shadow dance across the wall in the girl's room. He was doing something to her, or he was going to do something very soon.

"I think so, let me call Dad." I stared at him.

"We don't have time for that!" I snapped, jumping out of the car and jogging out of the car.

"Bennett, get back here!" He whispered loudly as he got out of the car and followed after me.

I pulled the lock pick from my back pocket and started to work the lock on the front door. Why couldn't people just be trustworthy of their neighborhood and keep their doors unlocked. Maybe we should start driving around Canada. I hear they're very trustworthy people who leave their doors unlocked.

"We can't do an exorcism without Dad," he said quietly. I stood and opened the door and grinned at him as I crept inside.

"Yes we can," I told him. Didn't he have faith in me? "I've known Latin exorcism passages since I was 5."

Dean grabbed my arm to stop me and he turned me back towards him.

"We don't know what this demon can do." He said, glaring at me. I knew he was angry, but he was starting to make me angry too. "Dad's never let us go after demons on our own before."

"Don't you want to try? Dean, there's a little girl up there!" I snapped, still quiet. "She could get hurt, or die. Don't you care?"

"I do!" He argued. "But what if we can't handle it? We'll die too."

I glared at him.

"I'm willing to try. I don't care if you're going to help me or not." I told him, pulling my arm out of his grasp. I found the stairs in the living room and tested them out, making sure they didn't creak as I walked up them. I heard Dean swear and I looked behind me to see him following me up.

The little girl started screaming and we stared at each other in horror before running the hell up the stairs. The demon was holding the girl over a big silver bowl. He was holding a bloody knife and I cringed when I saw that he had cut the girls arm and was making sure her blood poured into the bowl.

Dean pushed past me and knocked the demon over. The girl's parents ran out of their room, finally, and were standing in horror behind me. I quickly grabbed the girl from the demon's grasp as Dean held him to the ground, wrestling to get hold of the knife. I rushed the girl to her parents and started the ritual. I started reciting the Latin passage I had memorized since I was little and I could tell it was working when the demon started squirming under Dean and screaming in pain.

Dean was looking back and forth, between the demon and I. I smirked as I finished and black smoke was expelled from the demon's host.

"Who are you people?" The girl's father demanded. Dean stood up and picked the host's body up, throwing him over his shoulder.

"Doesn't matter," I told him. "We're leaving."

The little girl smiled at us a little, holding her injured arm.

"Thank you for saving me." I smiled and ruffled her hair as we walked past them. They stared after us dumbstruck, watching as we descended the stairs and left the house.

"Where should we leave this guy?" I asked Dean. He sighed and looked around.

"The side of the road?" He offered, not knowing what else. "We should probably call Dad now."

"He's gonna be angry, isn't he?" I asked, not really caring. We just saved that girl's life! We just exorcized our first demon by ourselves. This was a call for celebration. Too bad I couldn't drink yet.

"Oh yeah, definitely." He gently, as gently as Dean could, tossed the guy into the back of the Impala and we drove back to the motel. I called John on the way to let him know.

"What?" He snapped into the phone, obviously in a fight with Sam. I sighed; this was going to be a long night.

...

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed :) they were much appreciated. More would be nice for this chapter. **

**So, I don't know if any of you have heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November but there's a sister challenge called Script Frenzy which is in April. Basically, it's this challenge to write a 100 page script during April. I did NaNoWriMo last year and I've decided to try out the Script Frenzy. The only reason I'm telling you is because it might keep me from posting chapters. I don't want it to, but I've never written a script before so I plan to spend all my free time on it. I don't even know what I'm gonna be writing it about! Ah!**

Anyway, if any of my amazing readers also participates in NaNoWriMo or Script Frenzy, you should find me and add me as a friend. My username is PPotts. If you haven't heard of either of them, I suggest you check it out. It's a really fun challenge if you love to write anything. 

**So I'm begging you all to bear with me until May. I know exactly what to write for this story and it's just a matter of writing it and posting it. And please send me encouraging reviews :) They'll make me happy and keep me sane with all this writing.  
P.S. After April I promise that the chapters will get much longer in length. I'm gonna go ahead and predict that they'll double in length. So you'll have something to look forward too.  
**


	8. What Did He Say About Her Mother?

**Chapter 8**

"I can't believe you two would be so stupid!" He yelled at Dean and I the minute we entered the motel room. We had left the body (still alive, thankfully) on a bench outside the nearest hospital just in case there were any injuries he woke up with. Demons were usually very careless about their hosts' bodies.

Dean was about to step in, probably to take the blame for everything, but I didn't let him.

"That little girl was about to be used as a sacrifice! And you'd rather us call you and wait for you to show up?" I yelled back. It felt good to yell at John, I could kind of understand why Sam had started. This was the first time I had ever talked back to John. I usually followed his instructions without a word, following in Dean's footsteps. "There wasn't time to wait for you!"

John was very tense. I could see veins popping out of his neck and his face was so red I felt like steam would start shooting out of his ears at any moment. I wondered what he and Sam had been arguing about before.

"Next you're going to tell me that you want to go to college too! Don't you!" He stepped right in front of me, staring me down. I stared right back up at him, not wavering or backing down.

"No!" I screamed. Sam snapped his head in my direction, obviously a little hurt. "I don't! I'm a hunter and I will always be a hunter! But you're not letting me hunt! Sending me to scope out a house instead of out where god forbid there was any danger! I wasn't going to let that little girl die!"

Our neighbors banged on the wall to tell us to shut up. John and I both yelled at them to mind their own business.

"I told you that we didn't know what was going on here yet! We didn't know who that demon was!" I scoffed and wanted to just rip my hair out and scream. Didn't he get it?

"Dad, Rosie, come on." Dean said quietly, trying to step between us. We ignored him.

"I've had exorcism rituals memorized since before I started traveling with you! I'm not stupid! I knew what I was doing! And I wasn't going in by myself!" I didn't tell him that I still would have gone in even if Dean hadn't followed me. "Dean was there with me!"

"What if the ritual you knew didn't work on that demon?" He asked.

"Then I would have used a different one! I know four!" I screamed. My hands were clenched so tightly that I'm sure my knuckles were white. John grabbed my collar tightly and pulled me closer to him.

Sam quickly got up to try and break us apart too. John had never placed a hand on any of us, not even when he and Sam would fight.

"I promised your mother that I would take care of you." He whispered harshly. His face was still red and the anger in his eyes was obvious.

"Taking care of me and holding me back from actually helping are two different things." I seethed, just as quiet as him. I wasn't going to let him know that he was choking me. He was holding my necklace, the one Dean gave me, too tight and I could feel it cut against the back of my neck.

"Come on, we're tired. Let's just get some sleep." Sam said softly after a moment of silence. He was ignored as well.

"I have followed your rules since you picked me up at that motel room when I was five. I didn't even know who you were! But I did want you wanted and followed your lead. Trust and respect works both ways here." I snapped. "If you don't start trusting that I can do a job other than salting and burning bones and respecting that I know what I'm doing, then I'm quickly going to lose trust and respect for you."

I pushed John away but he still had a hold of my shirt and necklace so the chain broke as he stepped back. I felt a pang in my chest when I felt it break and watched it dangle from his fingers. Tears started to swarm my eyes but I didn't let them fall. We stared at each other as he held the necklace until he loosened his grip and let it fall to the ground.

I turned away and grabbed my duffel, storming to the bathroom.

"I'm sleeping in the fucking bathtub." I said, slamming the door and locking it behind me. As soon as the lock clicked I dropped the duffel and fell to my knees letting the tears finally fall down my face.

I loved that necklace.

...

Dean knocked on the bathroom door the next morning. Sam and I had to go to school so I was all ready up and showered when he finally did knock. I didn't care if the others wanted to take a shower or had to use the bathroom. I wasn't leaving the bathroom until the last possible moment.

"He's gone." He said, without waiting for my reply. I sighed and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. I seriously needed some pain killers. I had a ferocious headache and my neck hurt like hell from the few hours of sleep that I got in the tub. I finally emerged from the bathroom, cracking the door open first to make sure that John really wasn't there before grabbing my duffel and joining the boys in the main room. I looked for the necklace on the ground and around the room but I didn't see it anywhere. Sam wasn't looking at me, probably because I had admitted that I didn't want to leave with him after we finished high school.

"You hungry?" Dean asked. I nodded and he handed me the box of donuts that they must have gotten earlier. "Hurry up and get your stuff together. It's your last day until winter break, you don't want to be late."

He was joking, hoping to get a laugh or something but I really wasn't in the mood. I grabbed a glazed donut and grabbed my book bag, making sure I had my homework from the night before inside and then made my way out to the Impala. I saw that John's truck was still there, which meant that he was somewhere near. I rolled my eyes. Who was being more immature here? He couldn't even face me after last night.

Dean and Sam came out a moment after and when Dean unlocked the car I quickly moved to the backseat, not even bothering trying to take the front seat from Sam. I really didn't want to deal with any of the Winchester's today. Not even Dean and he hadn't done anything wrong.

The ride to school was extremely quiet and I'm sure that the way Dean was fidgeting meant he was really uncomfortable with it. He quickly turned on his stereo so that he would have something to listen to. He dropped us off but stopped me from getting out. He motioned for Sam to go ahead and I sighed, leaning back in the seat.

"What's going on with you?" He asked, turning around to look at me. I shrugged, not knowing what he was talking about. "You're so different from the girl we picked up in that motel. I don't get what happened."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. He sighed and I heard him curse chick flick moments under his breath.

"You're angry, almost all the time. At either Sam or Dad or me. And if it's not us, it's everything else." He looked down at the seat but glanced back up a moment later. "We don't get you anymore. _Do_ you want to leave like Sam? Do you want to go off on your own?"

I shook my head. My throat was starting to constrict and I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what I wanted.

"What's going on in that head of yours Rosie?" He asked quietly. I heard the bell ring.

"I don't know." I said, opening the door and scooting out. I glanced back before shutting the door and walking to the school.

I really did need to figure out where my head was at. I heard the Impala drive off quickly and glanced around. I didn't see Sam anywhere and mostly everyone was inside all ready. I decided to ditch, not caring that Sam was going to notice that I wasn't in class. He was ignoring me anyway. I walked away from the school and down the street, the opposite way that Dean had driven off.

I walked a few miles and felt rain start to drizzle so I looked around for shelter in case it started raining harder. There was a diner across the street. I quickly crossed to the other side and opened the door, warm air assaulting me.

"Go ahead and have a seat, sugar," A waitress passing by told me. I nodded and smiled a little in thanks before finding a booth in the back. I ordered a coffee when she came by again and I took out the book that I was reading from my bag.

I was there for a long time, ignoring calls from Sam around the time our first class would have ended and Dean a little while later. I saw him drive past in the Impala a few times but he didn't stop to check in the diner. If Dean had been missing the first thing I would have done was check all the diners and then the bars. Since he was 21 now bars were definitely one of his favorite places to get away and to pick up women.

I thought about what Dean had said in the car. What was I doing anymore? I didn't even notice that I had changed until he pointed it out. I used to always follow John's rules. I never questioned him before. Not until Sam and him really started fighting about it at least. Did that mean that I did want to leave?

No, I really didn't want to leave. I loved all three Winchester's, they were my family and I was grateful for every opportunity I had with them. John taught me to be the best hunter possible and I knew he was still keeping the promise he had made my mom. I sighed. What exactly _was_ the promise she made him swear to?

I knew why I was questioning John all of a sudden. And I knew why I was so angry. John was keeping things from me. Things that I deserved to know.

I called Dean and told him where I was.  
...

**Chapter 8, as promised. Thanks for all the reviews :) You've all made me very happy.  
So Rosemary is going to get some answers soon. What do you all think? Leave me some lovely reviews and let me know! Maybe I'll update before next Sunday, but that relies on you all.**


	9. She Gets to Say Goodbye

**Chapter 9**

I didn't say anything as I got in the car except to tell him to drive. He didn't question me as I directed him far out of town and towards the more rural areas and finally to the edge of the woods that the town was surrounded on two sides by. I didn't even let him shut off the engine before I was out of the car, telling him to open the trunk.

I pulled out my gun and quickly loaded it, grabbing extra ammo just in case, as tears started mixing in with the rain. I slammed the trunk and started running towards the woods.

"Rose!"

I whizzed past tree after tree, not caring that branches were hitting my face and my bare arms. I finally stopped when there was at least a mile behind me and I heard Dean running after me, not far off. The trees protected me from the rain as I raised the gun and aimed at a tree farther away from me.

I started shooting at the tree, letting out my anger with each squeeze of the trigger.

"Rosemary!" Dean called, hearing the gun go off.

I was full on crying now, tears blurring my vision and I hoped that Dean wouldn't walk in front of me or sneak up behind me because there was a possibility that I'd shoot him instead of a tree. I finished the rounds that I had loaded and quickly tried to reload, digging my numb fingers into my jean pockets to pull the bullets out.

I felt a hand grip my arm just as I finished and I quickly turned and pointed the gun. I was surprised to see John instead of Dean, but Dean was standing there a few feet behind, not knowing what to do.

The gun was pointing straight at his forehead but he didn't waver. He grasped both my shoulders in his hands, tightly but comforting.

I dropped my arms and fell into his embrace, bawling my eyes out. I felt someone take the gun gently out of my hand and I could hear them saying something but it was lost over the sound of the rain and my crying.

I don't know how long I stayed in John's arms just crying, but I knew that Dean had left us alone probably to pick Sam up at the high school. I vaguely wondered what he would tell Sam.

I eventually pulled away to wipe my eyes. I was too ashamed to look up at him, especially as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me out of the woods to his truck. When we got in he turned the heater on but didn't drive anywhere.

"What do you want to know?" He asked gently. I sniffed and rubbed my nose with the back of my hand.

"What was the promise that you made?" I asked, finally looking up at him. "How did you know her?"

He looked upset, like having to think about her was painful.

"I met your mom at the Roadhouse. We talked about traveling with kids and I promised her that if she died or something happened to her that I would take you with me and take care of you. She promised the same for Sam and Dean." He told me. "She also made me promise that if she had been possessed… that I would… that I would take care of it. Even if she had no chance to survive."

"Is that why you don't let me go after demons? Because it wasn't actually a witch that killed her? It was a demon wasn't it?" I asked, finally understanding why I was always stuck with hunting spirits and everything other than demons. He nodded. Tears assaulted my vision again.

"Yes." He whispered.

"Was she," I paused as my throat tightened again and wiped away my tears. "Was she all ready dead when you found her?"

He shook his head.

"Her body was, but the demon was still inside her." He turned to look at me. "You'd been traveling with a demon for weeks."

"Why didn't the demon hurt me?" I asked. He shook his head again.

"I have no idea." I didn't know if I believed him.

John and I stayed in the truck where we were for another hour before he called Dean and ordered him and Sam to start packing everything up. He'd swing by so that they could follow us to our next destination, but he wasn't telling any of us where that was.

We drove through the night and for most of the next day but I had been sleeping through most of the drive since I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and from pure exhaustion from breaking down.

He gently nudged me to wake me up and I saw that it was four in the afternoon. I stretched as he called one of the boys again. He told them to go find some newspapers and find a job for us. It was then that I noticed we were outside a cemetery. I turned to look at him, to question what we were doing here, but he was silent as he got out of the car. I kept my head down as Dean and Sam drove past and John led me into the cemetery.

We passed many graves before he finally stopped in front of one. It was a small headstone, with a symbol on top that was protection from demons and I read the rest of the engraving.

**Abigail Bennett**

**March 28, 1956 – September 13, 1989**

**Loving mother, loving friend.**

I kneeled down, grateful that John brought me here. I had never gotten to say goodbye to my mom. We had left as soon as John had come back that day and when I had asked him later on about what had happened he'd only tell me that it had been taken care of.

I heard him walk off to give me space.

"Mom," I whispered, tears once again clouding my vision. There weren't any flowers on her grave and I used my sleeve to wipe off the headstone and make it look a little nicer. "I miss you so much mom."

My lip trembled as I ran my fingers across her name.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't save you." I was so tired of crying but now I felt like I had an actual reason to cry. "I wish we could have had more time together."

"Dad," I turned and saw John leaning against a tree 20 feet or so away. Dean had come back and was showing him an article, probably a job. Dean looked up at me while John read and I turned back to my mom's grave.

"Thank you for sending me with the Winchester's." I whispered. "They hold me together when I feel like I'm breaking."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see John.

"Dean and Sam found a job." I nodded and started to get up. John held me down. "Sam and I are gonna go on ahead. Stay as long as you need to. Dean's gonna stay with you and you guys will catch up when you can."

He kneeled down for a second and rested his hand on top of the headstone. He bent his head with his eyes closed and I looked away. He squeezed my shoulder and kissed the top of my head as he left.

I sat back and crossed my legs.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. Sam's my best friend but he doesn't want to stay anymore and he wants me to leave with him." It was starting to get dark and I wrapped my arms around myself as I started to get cold. "I don't want to let him down, but I don't want to leave the job."

"What am I going to do?" I whispered. Two seconds later I heard footsteps behind me and looked up to see Dean behind me, taking his leather jacket off. He placed it on my shoulders and I slowly put my arms through the sleeves, wrapping it close. It smelled like Dean and it reminded me of how calm it made me. How calm Dean usually made me. I never really noticed it before. I had finally placed the smell that I couldn't recognize all those years ago. He smelled like leather and nutmeg. The only reason I knew why it was nutmeg was because that's what I always associated my mother with.

"Can I?" Dean asked, motioning to the ground next to me. I nodded and he sat down close next to me. He crossed his legs like mine and our knees were touching.

"I've never talked to a grave before," he admitted quietly. I nodded. John had never taken the boys to visit their mother's grave. Sam had told me that he wanted to but I didn't know if he had ever talked to his dad about it.

"Me neither," I said, smiling sadly before looking back at the headstone.

"Why do I always get sucked into chick flick moments with you?" He asked. I laughed softly.

"Maybe it's because I'm a chick." I said sarcastically. He nodded as if that made sense. "Or maybe you're gay."

"Bite your tongue!" He exclaimed. I laughed more loudly than before. He smiled and nudged my shoulder with his. "That's my favorite Rosie smile."

It was almost completely dark out and I was surprised that Dean wasn't trying to hurry me along. The job must not have been that bad if John and Sam could get along long enough to do it without us.

"What do you remember about her?" He asked gently. I smiled softly, picturing her driving her truck and singing along to the angry girl music that I had grown so fond of.

"She was beautiful." I said, remembering how the sun would make her blonde hair look golden. "She was so smart too. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up."

"She sounds great." He said. I nodded. "You miss her a lot, don't you?"

I nodded again.

"Hey, uh, I forgot to give this to you earlier because of everything." He wrapped his arm around my back and started digging in one of the pockets in his jacket. My breath caught in my throat as I felt the warmth of his body against mine. I watched as he pulled something out and took his arm away. "I got it fixed for you."

He handed me the necklace. The blue crystal ball was dangling on a new silver chain which looked much stronger than the other chain had been.

I put it on and tried not to shiver as he pulled my hair back so I could clasp it. I held the crystal in my hand.

"Thank you so much Dean." I smiled and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged back.

"I didn't realize that you still wore it. I only ever saw you wear it that night for that dance." He said, pulling away. My heart did somersaults as he smiled at me and I suddenly felt very awkward having this exchange in front of my mom's grave.

"I've never taken it off," I told him, honestly. "Except to shower."

I looked back at the headstone, wondering when the next time I'd be able to visit would be. Then I wondered if I ever would. I felt guilty and sad when I realized that I probably wouldn't ever get to.

"We're, uh, taking really good care of her," I turned to Dean again when I realized he was talking to my mom. "You'd be really proud of everything she's done Mrs. Bennett."

"Bye mom," I whispered. Dean stood up and helped me up as well, leading me out of the cemetery and away from my mom's grave with his arm around my shoulders.

Walking out of the cemetery, I felt much stronger than I had the day before. I knew at least some of the truth about what happened with my mom, I got the chance to say goodbye and I had even gotten my necklace back.

Hopefully things would keep getting better.


	10. His Happy Birthday

**Chapter 10**

**January 24, 2001**

Sam didn't ever bring up what I had said during my huge blowout with John, and John and I were back to normal. I didn't feel the need to go against his orders and he eased up on his strict rule that I never do anything dangerous. In fact John and I had just met back up with the brothers from a crazy hunt with a Boogeyman. Dean and Sam had been dealing with a bit of necromancy a few states away.

At that specific moment, Sam and I were out shopping while Dean and John were doing some investigation about the murders that had been happening. Sam and I had seen a Target on our way to the motel when we first arrived and had decided to stop by there without Dean knowing. Why? Because it was his 22nd birthday.

"Too bad they don't still sell cassettes." I said sarcastically, looking at all the old rock CD's that Dean would have liked. If only he would upgrade the crappy stereo system in the car.

"Seriously," Sam laughed. I was glad that things weren't awkward between us. Sam had no clue what had happened between that morning I had ditched until Dean and I caught up with them in South Dakota. I was amazed that he hadn't been asking me what happened, but I was sure that was because both Dean and John had probably told him not to bother me about it. Ever since then I'd been just a bit closer to them than to Sam. I felt bad for a little before I remembered that Sam didn't want the same things we did. I knew that Sam wasn't going to stick around much after we finished high school in a few months. He and John were still bickering about whatever it was they bickered about and they were very much on thin ice with each other. Sam was most likely going to get fed up quickly after graduation.

...

There was one thing that kind of irked me. I'd never asked before, but none of the Winchester's seemed willing to talk about it. I knew that John hadn't started hunting until after Sam was born. And I knew that Mary, their mother, was dead and had died right before they started to hunt. I'd been starting to put pieces together. Sam would always bring up 'the demon'. That's usually how their fights started. John would travel to one place to head to a hunt, but then he'd get a phone call from one of his hunter buddies. I guessed Ellen or her husband. Then he'd be off to somewhere completely different, not tell us anything about it, and make us continue on the hunt we'd all ready be working on.

Sam would ask him where he was going and if it had to do with 'the demon'. He'd ask why we, probably meaning Dean and himself, couldn't go with him. He'd always mention how 'this was the demon that started this obsession'. Then John would fight back and tell Sam that he gave us a job to do so we were supposed to do it, no questions asked. Sam would threaten to leave and go start a life without us.

Then John would get in his truck and go off to wherever it was that he was going. After a few days he'd call and ask us where we were and set up a time and place to meet back up again. And sometimes for some reason, John would ask one of us to come with him. All this made me believe that he did this so that Sam would stop fighting, to let him think that we were helping with 'the demon'. But we all knew that the trips he brought us on never had anything to do with 'the demon'.

So I had guessed that Mary hadn't just died. I figured that she had been killed, by a demon. The demon. I knew this was very likely, mainly because you have to wonder how somebody ever became a hunter. Nobody knew about anything supernatural unless they were being attacked or haunted or were having to deal with something along those lines. Usually the general rule of thumb was that when that happened, somebody died and it was probably somebody close to you. And that made you want revenge, to hunt down whatever it was that killed your loved one.

"How about this?" Sam asked, holding up the book 'Fast Food Nation'. I laughed.

"I don't think it'll have the right response that we want." I said.

For now, I wouldn't ask any of them about it. Mainly because there was nothing I really needed to know about but also because none of them had bothered me about my huge breakdown. I only would ask if the time came when Sam had completely lost it and left us to start a new life.

"Why is it so difficult to shop for Dean? I mean, seriously he's so simple. Eat gross fattening food, listen to hair-metal and sleep." I whined, tossing a car magazine down. The only magazine that Dean would be interested in was one full of Asian girls with huge tits. It made me sick to my stomach the amount of times I'd use Sam's laptop to do some school work or research and find a sticky keyboard and the internet stuck on . After that I begged John to buy me my own laptop. As soon as I got it I password protected it. Nobody, not even the Winchester's would ever guess that '19PhilCollins83' was my password. I've never even listened to Phil Collins other than that song 'In the Air Tonight'. The only reason why I'd heard it was it was one of the songs that played during the homecoming that Sam and I went to. I had asked somebody what the name was.

"I know this is getting pretty ridiculous. We've all ready covered the entire store twice." Sam said. "Do you want to go to pawn shop across the street?"

I nodded and we quickly left, walking between traffic to get to the store. We passed by the jewelry section and I was tempted to stop and look. John had given us a brand new fake credit card. This would be the first time we used it, so it wouldn't be so horrible if I bought something for myself. Sam saw me looking but he walked behind me and started pushing me away. A thought struck me.

"Hey, you think this is one of those shops that sell weapons?" I asked. Sam stopped and turned around to find a sign anywhere. It was lucky that Sam was so freaking tall now. He was more than six feet tall. He grinned and led me to where he saw the sign hanging down. We looked at the guns they had and I noticed some red-neck trying to return a sawed-off shotgun but the guy behind the counter wouldn't take it.

I nudged Sam to look as the employee was telling the man that they didn't sell any sawed-off's and the red-neck was getting really ticked off. The quality of the gun, from what we could both see, was spectacular. It definitely looked like the kind of gun that Dean would love to use. I unbuttoned the three buttons at the top of my polo and pulled the camisole that I was wearing down so that you couldn't see it. If you were looking at me you could just barely see the lace at the top of my bra. I took my hair out of its usual ponytail and shook it out.

I approached the man with a certain look in my eyes that could make any guy melt.

"Excuse me," I said while I gently put my hand on the man's arm. He turned to look at me but his eyes fell down into my cleavage. I felt creepy-crawlies all over at the look he was giving me but I didn't show it. "Can I take a look at your gun?"

He nodded, still in awe. "Sure miss." He grinned and handed the gun to me. I smiled in thanks, making sure my dimples showed. Men responded well to dimples in the right places. I grabbed the gun and expected it. I checked the barrel and I was really impressed with the gun. I quickly stole a glance at Sam and nodded slightly.

"How much do you want for it?" I asked him, looking back up with a smile. The guy at the counter had been distracted by a different customer looking at knives.

"Hell, $100 would do it," He said. I grinned. Perfect. He thought he was getting a deal. He really didn't know what he had here and he obviously didn't buy it from here. Jackass. He deserved to be screwed over.

"Well," I motioned for Sam to come over, "I'm interested in buying it. Will you go with my brother so that he can find an ATM machine and get you the money?"

The guy shifted to looking at one of the guns in the glass case and back to me. I smirked and cocked my hip. The gun he was specifically looking at was only a little more than what he wanted for this gun.

"Or we could buy you a new one here of equal value, give or take a few bucks?" I offered. He grinned and nodded. I handed Sam the gun and reached for the credit card, only to notice that he all ready had it in his hand. I paused and looked in my wallet. I had the new card that John had handed to me… did he get more than one? I mentally shrugged and put my wallet back in my jacket pocket.

"I'm gonna go check out the jewelry now. Come find me when you're done." Sam was the one who had to buy it since John hadn't given me a fake weapon's license. I really should get one soon. Sam nodded and I headed back to where I remembered it to be.

I started searching the glass cases full of jewelry but didn't find anything special. I found my way in the men's jewelry and started looking at the rings they had. I smiled when I saw one that looked familiar. Somebody had had a ring with a French charm engraved on the inside that supposedly, according to the French, warned you when danger was near. I couldn't believe I had remembered that; it was one of the random things that my mom taught me that I seemed to remember.

I paused as I saw a few more French charm necklaces and rings. There were a lot that I couldn't place but I remembered the phrases for strength, keeping a clear head, luck and a few others. I was amazed at the selection that this shop had, it was extraordinary. I also found a pair of pretty topaz earrings. I was born in November and topaz was the month stone.

"Can I help you?" I looked up and saw an older lady leaning on the other side of the counter. I smiled and nodded.

"I'd like to buy that ring," I said, pointing out the first one I had seen; the one that helped you know when danger was near. "And these earrings."

She grabbed the two things and started to ring the items up.

"Could you wrap the ring up for me too please?" I asked. She smiled and nodded, adding on a little extra for it. When I checked the price on the register it was still a lot less than what Sam was going to have to pay for that sawed-off so I didn't feel guilty at all. The only thing I was slightly worried about was that my ears weren't pierced, and I was going to have to convince Dean or Sam to pierce them for me. If there's one thing that scares the crap out of me, it's needles. And bugs; I hate bugs, but I digress. I really don't know what inspired me to buy the earrings, but I didn't care.

Sam came over as soon as I was finished and he rolled his eyes when he saw me with a bag, indicating the purchases I had made. I grinned and shrugged.

"Did we get the sawed-off?" I asked. Sam nodded.

"I all ready put it in the back of the Impala. I figured Dean would think something was up if we came back with a new gun." He said as we went back to the car across the street.

...

We hadn't really celebrated birthdays or any holidays since Sam and I were really little. John had usually been on hunts and even when he'd promise to be back in time, he never actually was. But the boys and I always got each other a present for birthdays even if we never let John know. I think he probably knew, seeing how we'd end up with new weapons randomly throughout the year but he never said anything about it. I guess he was just letting us have some fun.

We made it back to the motel and saw that John's truck still wasn't in the parking lot. Sam brought in the gun and an old newspaper that was outside one of the other motel rooms and started to wrap it really badly.

"That looks so horrible," I said, laughing as he wrapped tape around and around the newspaper covered gun. He shrugged.

"Doesn't matter." He smirked. "What does matter is that Dean has a hard time opening it."

The time I smirked and started going through my duffel and pulled out a roll of duct tape. He laughed and caught it as I tossed it to him and he started wrapping the duct tape. Dean would have fun trying to get all the tape off.

"Make him work to get his present." I said, lying on the bed. We heard John's truck but we only heard one door slam shut before the truck took off again. I wondered what happened, and I hoped that the two didn't get into a fight. I heard the door jiggle before it opened and Dean walked through. He didn't look happy or upset, but he smiled when he saw Sam wrapping his present still. Sam ripped off the piece of tape he was using and patted it down, deciding that he was finished with it.

"What's that?" Dean asked, shutting the door behind him. He came over and sat down on the other side of the bed that I was on.

"I think you know," Sam said as he handed it to him. Dean grinned and started unwrapping the tape. The smile slowly vanished as he continued to peel all the tape off. Sam had used a lot of it, not to mention all the scotch tape underneath too.

"What the hell did you guys do to my present?" He whined. Sam and I laughed.

"It'll all be worth it when you finally open it." Sam said. I nodded.

"It was totally lucky that we found it too." I added. He finally managed to get past all the duct tape, leaving the sticky pile at his feet. He ripped through the scotch tape and the newspaper and his eyes lit up when he pulled the gun out of the mess.

"It's beautiful," Dean said. Sam and I glanced at each other. Only Dean would respond to cars and weapons that way. I don't think I'd ever heard him use that word to describe a woman.

"Rose had to use some of her fine negotiating skills to get it." Sam said, laughing at the memory of the guy's face when I sauntered over to talk to him. Dean raised an eyebrow as he looked over at me.

"I just flashed my cleavage a little." I defended.

"Yeah, try a lot." Sam corrected. Dean raised both eyebrows and gave me a stern look.

"What? Are you telling me that you're mad that it got you the gun?" I asked. His eyes traveled back to the gun in his hands and he started to smile again. He turned back to me and pointed his finger straight at my face.

"Just don't do it again." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, we get half our information from me flashing a little skin. You guys are just jealous that you can't do the same." I said. They stopped to think and then shrugged.

"This is amazing guys, thanks." Dean said. He started cleaning the gun and looking through the trunk of the Impala for ammo to load his new gun with. I knew he'd want to use it as soon as possible.

John came back shortly after and didn't mention the new gun that Dean was cleaning the barrel of. Instead he told Sam to get a jacket. Sam bit his tongue, not asking where they were going seeing as how it would start a fight. He probably wanted to make this day a little more enjoyable for Dean.

After Sam and John left it was just Dean and I.

"So you like your gun?" I asked, watching him as he messed with it. He looked up and grinned. I loved his smile. It was definitely an attractive smile, seeing as how he used it and his smirk to get girls to swoon over him.

"I love it. It's awesome." He reached over to hug me and I smiled while taking in his familiar scent. I remembered the ring and earrings.

"You want to help me with something?" I asked. Dean shrugged and watched as I pulled out a needle and some rubbing alcohol. "I bought earrings today."

Dean's eyes widened. "Your ears aren't pierced."

"Thank you Captain Obvious." I rolled my eyes. "That's why I want you to pierce them for me."

He looked about ready to reject.

"Please! I'd do it myself but you know I'm scared of needles." He sighed but he still wasn't convinced. "I'll give you your other present."

He quickly grabbed the book of matches on the nightstand and got up. "We should probably do this in the bathroom."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me in, not bothering to shut the door behind us. I sat up on the counter and pulled my hair back so he could see what he was doing.

"Is this considered a chick flick moment?" I asked suddenly, as he was marking where to pierce. He glared at me.

"Of course not. I'm only doing this so you'll give me my other present." He told me, grabbing the needle and running the flame from one of the matches over it. He had rubbed my ears with the alcohol all ready, before he marked the lobes. "All right, do you have your earrings? I'll put them in right after I pierce it for you."

I pulled the box out from my jacket, making sure it wasn't the wrapped one with his ring in it. He opened the box and smiled.

"They look nice," I smiled back and closed my eyes tightly as he brought the needle up to my left ear. "On the count of three, all right?"

I nodded.

"One, two, three," he said and pushed the needle through. I winced as it burned but it didn't hurt too badly. He left the needle in for a moment as he took out one of the earrings. "Uh, well, this might hurt more because the earring is a little thicker than the needle."

"Doesn't matter. It's not like I haven't gotten hurt before." I said, laughing a little.

"True." He pushed the needle all the way through and quickly followed with the earring. I grimaced as he worked it through, finally feeling a stream of blood running down my neck. I heard a pop as he put the back of the earring on and then pulled away. "I can't believe I just pierced your ear."

"Well hurry up and clean that needle off so you can pierce my other ear." I said. "Before I change my mind."

I took a couple tissues from the box on the counter and ran it under some water while Dean rinsed the needle and sterilized it again. I cleaned off the blood that I felt and gently dabbed my piercing so that I wouldn't irritate it. I smiled when it didn't hurt much at all.

Dean pierced my other ear, a little more quickly than the first. I'm sure he was eager to get it over with and get his other present. He slipped the earring in a little more smoothly than the other one had and popped the back in place. I rinsed off both ears and turned to look in the mirror. I smiled and played with them a little.

Dean cleared his throat and I turned to see him with his hand open in front of him, obviously waiting for his present. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the box out of my sweatshirt pocket and tossed it to him. I cleaned the mess we made and put the needle and rubbing alcohol away as he sat on the bed and started to open it.

He opened the box and stared at the ring with a blank face. I blushed. Did he not like it? I mean, I know its jewelry, but it was pretty masculine.

"What does it mean?" He asked, looking up at me.

"It's a French charm. It's supposed to let you know when there's danger around." I told him. He smiled as he pulled it out and quickly slipped it on his finger. He got up and wrapped his arms around me again. I hugged him back.

"Thanks, Rosie." He said.

"No problem Dean.  
...

**Hey! So I'm sure you guys don't mind that I took a break from writing my script to update a chapter for you guys. :) I know, I know, I'm amazing. You know what would be even more super amazing and help me with my script writing? If I got at least 10 reviews for this chapter. It's true. And it would make me want to take another break and update sooner. But, you know, it's just a suggestion. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Now we all know how Dean got his ring and his sawed-off. I honestly don't know anything about guns so I really just kind of guessed. Anyway, I'll stop so that you can go ahead and review. Yeah, you. I see you. And I'm predicting that you're gonna take a minute to review, just like I took a minute to update. :) **


	11. A Hunter's Prom

**Chapter 11**

**May 15, 2001**

"John," I approached him as he sat at the table in the motel. He was writing in his journal and usually nobody ever disturbed him when he was writing in it. He looked up and quickly shut it. Dean and Sam were out investigating the job to see what they could find out. People had been found hung from a noose in the same tree. There were 8 victims in the last month.

"Do you need something Rose?" He asked. I sighed and sat down in front of him. I knew it was going to be hard to convince him, especially with what happened the last time, but Sam and I wanted to try.

"Well, you know it is Sam's and my senior year." I said. He nodded, raising an eyebrow as he sat back and crossed his arms. Damn, he wasn't going to make this any easier. "And we're graduating soon, in a few months."

"And?" He asked. "Don't beat around the bush Rosemary."

"Yes sir," I bit my lip. "We want to go to prom."

He stared at me for a long time, I don't know what he was looking for but he just sat there for what seemed like forever.

"Only if Dean goes with you." I grinned.

"Really?" I asked. John sighed and nodded. "Thank you so much!"

"Now wait a minute," he said. "Don't get too excited. You are going to wear the same dress you got for that other dance."

I nodded. It still fit perfectly fine. I had all ready tried it on since I figured if John did let us go that he'd set up some guidelines like that.

"No leaving to search through the building during the dance either." He said, eyeing me. "You and Sam stay together the entire time with the majority of the group."

Again, I nodded.

"No after parties either. I want you home by midnight and then I want you guys in bed ten minutes after." John smirked. "You also have to convince Dean to go with you. If he doesn't want to go, then neither of you are going."

The smile dropped from my face. Damn him. Damn him to hell. Dean would never go for it. He never wanted to go to any school events. He hated them. I would definitely have to turn on the waterworks and guilt trip him into it.

...

Sam and I didn't have the same schedule this time around, which was okay because I got out at one in the afternoon and he still had to stay until three. So I told him that I would work on getting Dean to cave and agree to go with us when he came to pick me up.

"How was school?" He asked, mainly just teasing me that Sam and I were still in school and he was able to always be working on the job.

"It was good," I answered. "I checked out this amazing book that you have to read! It's called _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_. It's so good! It's a whole series. There are four so far, but there's going to be seven. There's also a movie of the first one. I'm going to rent it soon."

Dean laughed. "Sounds good, Rosie."

I sighed and looked out the window."Dean, I have something to ask you."

He glanced at me while he continued to drive. I could tell he thought that something was up.

"Yeah, go ahead." I sniffed and looked away from him, out my window so that he couldn't see that I was only pretending to cry. "What's wrong?"

I sighed. He was all ready eating out of the palm of my hand. I felt kind of bad but then I tried to think about how much fun it would be, especially when I thought about watching Dean squirm as they played all sorts of crappy music that he hated.

"I really want to go to the prom." I said quietly, looking down at my hands.

"Aw Rosie, I'm sorry." He said. He actually did sound sorry. "Did you talk to Dad about it?"

I nodded.

"What did he say?"

"He said that Sam and I could only go if you came with us." I said meekly. I pinched the underside of my knee, hard, and felt tears spring up in my eyes. I looked back up at Dean and made sure he saw the tears. "But I know that it's the last thing you'd want to do. I just had to ask in case there was a chance."

"Rose," he sighed and glanced at me again. I could tell he was caving.

"I understand," I mustered up a weak smile, "I just wanted to ask."

I didn't say anything else and just stared out my window. He was quiet throughout the rest of the drive and when I continued to sniffle he put in a cassette to listen to. I had to keep from smiling. When we got to the motel I just sighed and wiped my eyes, grabbing my bag and heading to our room.

"Hey," I felt his hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him. "I'll… if it's that important, I'll go."

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"But you have to set me up with one of the hot chicks there, okay?" He said, his lips curving into his famous cocky smirk. I rolled my eyes and walked into the motel room. I should have figured that that would be the reason he caved.

I called Sam's phone and left a message telling him to buy us the tickets, since the prom was only in a few days. There was also some stupid paperwork we'd have to turn in since Dean wasn't a student but that could be easily forged. After I hung up I took out my dress and set up the ironing stand that was in the closet so that I could get rid of any kinks in the fabric. It had been thrown in my duffel since homecoming and had been in there ever since. I'd probably have to do the same to Dean's and Sam's slacks and button downs but I wasn't going to be caught dead rummaging through their duffels.

When Sam came back, John had arrived minutes before. Sam was grinning madly and I thought it was because he was excited that we were going to the prom. I looked at Dean's face and noticed the anger set in and knew that it probably didn't have to do with prom. Sam motioned for me to go outside with him for a second so I did, catching Dean's eye for a second as we passed.

"What's going on Sam?" I asked. He pulled me into a hug and picked me off the ground, swinging me in circles.

"I got accepted to Stanford." I stared at him as he set me down.

"Really?" I asked. He nodded. I smiled and hugged him tightly again. I was super proud of him. "Stanford! That's amazing."

"I know. The guidance counselor pulled me in to tell me. I couldn't believe it." He laughed. "I'm sure they'll call you in and tell you that you got accepted somewhere too."

I frowned and looked down.

"Probably not," I said. We had both filled in our applications together to the same schools at the same time, but I had never mailed mine in. I didn't want to leave like Sam did. But I didn't want him to know that either.

"Why not?" He asked. "You're a way better student than I am."

I forced a smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

...

"All right, I'm telling you, home by midnight. Not a minute later." John said, locking eyes with each and every one of us to make sure that we understood. "If it looks like anything bad if going to happen, you get out of there. All right?"

"Yes, sir." Dean said.

We all looked really spiffy all dressed up. Sam had asked me to iron his clothes and I had woken up in the middle of the night the other night to hear Dean cussing. I had walked into the bathroom to see him trying to iron his clothes. I rolled my eyes, thinking about how embarrassed he had to have been to not ask for my help. Both the boys were wearing black slacks and nice dress shoes. Sam was wearing a red long sleeved button up shirt with his blazer over and Dean opted for a white button up with black suspenders. Both were wearing ties. Dean was wearing the blue one that Sam had bought for the homecoming dance and Sam was just wearing a black one.

The prom itself wasn't at the high school but it was at a hotel about 15 minutes away, which was kind of nice. I called shotgun on our way to the Impala and Dean drove to the hotel, tugging at his tie to keep loosening it.

"I hate wearing monkey suits," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Stop whining, you look good. You'll have all the cheerleaders fighting over you." I said, looking out the window. I didn't want to admit just _how_ good I thought he looked. Was it bad that I wanted to jump him when I had finished getting ready in the bathroom and came out to see him all ready dressed and looking damn good? I didn't like these feelings for Dean that seemed to keep happening.

"Are any of them hot?" He asked. Neither Sam nor I answered him.

When we made it to the hotel we could all ready hear the horrible music when we got out of the car. Dean came around and held his arm out for me but I just stared at him.

"What?" He asked, motioning to his arm.

"That's what I want to know," I told him. Sam laughed and just walked on ahead.

"He's wearing the tie that matches your dress, not me," Sam said. "He's your date tonight."

I blushed like mad and I was glad that it was too dark out. Maybe they wouldn't notice.

"Oh," I said quietly, wrapping my arm through his. This was going to be… weird.

"But you'll understand if I leave you with Sam to take a tour with some blonde." Dean said, giving me his cocky smile. "I'll totally understand if you find some jock too and want to leave me."

I really didn't want to.

"Your dad said," Dean turned to stare at me as we walked through the entrance and handed our tickets to a chaperone at the double doors to the ball room. This was a pretty fancy hotel.

"I won't tell if you won't." He smirked. A few girls walked by wearing really tight short dresses that made their breasts pop out of the front and Dean stopped to watch them. He grinned as one looked back at him and she smirked back. I rolled my eyes. I had been looking forward to this since middle school and all ready I wanted to go back to the motel and eat a pint of chocolate ice cream instead.

We caught up to Sam who was sitting at one of the tables, watching everyone dance. I sat down next to him and Dean stood behind me. I looked up at him.

"Are you gonna sit?" I asked. He was looking around and I heard his stomach gurgle. He smiled when he saw the table full with food across the room.

"I'm gonna get something to eat. You guys want anything?" He asked. We both shook our heads. Something told me that was going to be the last we saw of him until we had to leave.

"You want to dance?" Sam asked. I smiled and nodded, grabbing his hand as he held it out for me. I loved dancing, especially when I got to dance like a fool. There was never a time that called for dancing in our profession, which was a main reason for wanting to come tonight. When Sam and I were younger, before we were allowed to help outside the motel rooms, we'd turn on MTV or the radio and dance. We were pretty good at swing dancing. We also knew Thriller like the backs of our hands.

We tested out the beat of the song and decided to do a little swing dancing for a while, at least until a slow song came on. Then Sam held my waist and I rested my arms on his shoulders. He was too freaking tall, even with the extra three inches that my heels gave me. Or maybe I was just too short.

I looked around for Dean but didn't see him anywhere. I held back my eye roll.

"I'm seriously thirsty, you wanna get a drink?" Sam asked. I nodded and we walked over to the table that Dean had left us for. Sam tested out the punch since it was in a giant bowl and he grimaced a little. "It's all ready been spiked."

He reached for a can of soda but I went ahead and poured myself a glass of the punch. It would definitely take off the edge that was beginning to grow. I gulped down the first glass and then poured a second that I planned on just sipping. What was getting into me?

I heard a familiar laugh and turned to see Dean coming out of the girl's bathroom right after one of the girls who I recognized as one of the cheerleaders. Her hair was messed up and his suspenders were hanging down as he tried to fix his tie. I felt really hot all of a sudden as I watched her turn back to kiss him quickly before running off. He started looking around. Probably to find another girl to fuck.

"Rose? Are you okay?" I looked to my side and saw Sam watching me, worried. I nodded. "Are you sure? Because it looks like you're about ready to throw a tantrum."

I sighed and looked into my cup of punch. My heart hurt when I thought that Dean was probably the one who had spiked the punch. Screw sipping, I tossed the rest of the cup down my throat.

"I'm fine," I told him, not believing it myself.

"You kids having fun?" My muscles tensed when I heard his voice. I turned and took in his appearance more closely. His lips were chapped and his hair was 'out of bed' messy, not the messy that he usually styled himself. I wanted to slap myself for thinking about how sexy he looked.

"Tons," I deadpanned. He cocked his head and looked at me with his eyebrows scrunched.

"Uh, okay Negative Nancy," he said, looking up at Sam. I leaned over and grabbed the ladle to the punch and poured myself another cup. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

I rolled my eyes and walked away from them.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Rosemary. How the fuck did I let this happen? When the hell did I start having feelings for Dean Winchester? I couldn't believe that I'd let it happen. I chugged the cup and tossed it in the trash that I was just passing when I finally started feeling the alcohol catch up with me. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Rosemary.

I sat down at an empty table that was hidden from the rest of the room by a huge balloon tower and kicked off my heels. I rubbed my feet and then pulled a chair closer to rest them on the seat. I rubbed my head and tried to stop the onslaught of tears that I felt coming. My throat all ready felt like someone was squeezing it.

"Hey," I looked up and saw a random student leaning around the tower, "I saw you pass by in a storm. You looked upset."

I just stared at him and he shifted uncomfortably under my gaze.

"You're the new girl right? You came with your brother Sam? You're Rosemary." He said, coming a little closer. It was dark in this corner since none of the strobe lights could make it past the balloons. I sighed and nodded.

"Can I sit?" I put my feet down and nodded again. I watched him sit down in the seat my feet had just vacated. "I'm George, by the way."

I decided to be nice so I held my hand out to shake.

"It's nice to meet you George," I said. He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it instead of shaking. I couldn't help but smile, he was really sweet.

"You too." He sighed and looked around. "So are you hiding from someone?"

I cringed but eventually nodded.

"Kind of," I admitted, "I just wanted to get away for a minute."

"That's cool." He was playing with his hands. "So that other guy you came with,"

I narrowed my eyes. Just thinking about Dean made me want to punch a wall.

"Is he your boyfriend?" I started laughing hysterically. George chuckled, obviously uncomfortable again. I'm sure I looked crazy. I probably should have gone easy on the punch.

"No," I said as my laughter died down a little, "not even."

He nodded and smiled.

"Do you want to dance then? I saw you swing dancing with Sam." I smiled back.

"You can swing?" I asked. He nodded enthusiastically. He was definitely cute. He also definitely was the polar opposite of Dean; just a few inches taller than me which meant with my shoes on we'd be the same height, light brown hair, a little scrawny but definitely strong. "I'd love to dance with you."

He waited for me to put my shoes back on and he helped me up. I was surprised that he was still a little taller than me. He held my hand, tightly but gently, and I didn't comment about his hands being a little sweaty. It was definitely hot in here and I'm sure that I had made him nervous with how crazy I was acting.

Swing dancing was definitely more difficult with a few drinks in my system and with a totally different partner than I was used to, but I was happy with how good he was at it. I definitely warmed up to him and we were moving smoothly. He even taught me a few new moves and managed to actually swing me in the air. Sam and I had never tried the intense moves like that, but it was really fun.

When the song ended I couldn't help but kiss him quickly on the lips. I pulled back and saw him blushing like mad.

"Want to keep dancing?" I asked. He nodded, grinning from ear to ear. We dance normally for one song and a slow song came on afterwards. George was just about ready to wrap his arms around my waist when somebody grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

"Excuse me!" I snapped, seeing that it was Dean. He looked pissed. "I'm dancing, asshole."

I pushed him away and led George farther into the group of dancing couples.

"I don't want to get beat up," George said, glancing back and I giggled.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," I told him.

"Rose," I groaned and turned to see Sam.

"What?" I asked.

"We have to go," I glared at him and he pointed to his watch. It was a quarter to midnight, which meant we ran the possibility of being late. Had I seriously been dancing with George for that long?

"God, seriously? I was just starting to have fun." I whined. Sam smiled sadly and nodded. I had come into this night feeling like it was the turning point in our lives. Graduation was so close, and I couldn't even count the number of high schools we had gone to. We only stayed in a town for a few days, two weeks tops. After graduation, I knew Sam was going to tell John about Stanford.

And then what would happen between Sam and me? He thought that I had applied to college too; he thought that I wanted something different from this life too. But I didn't want to leave, and I realized that was partially because I didn't want to be without Dean. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Rosemary.

I felt tears come up again but I tried to swallow them down. I took a deep breath and turned to George. He looked a little upset too and I noticed that Dean was standing a few feet away out of the corner of my eye. I didn't acknowledge him and I walked closer to George.

"Thanks for dancing with me," I said quietly. He nodded.

"I'll see you at school on Monday," he said with a smile. I almost frowned, I probably did. I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his head closer to mine. I kissed him passionately. More so than I'd ever remembered kissing anyone. I couldn't believe how emotional I had gotten. When I pulled away George's eyes were still closed so I pecked his lips again.

"Bye, George." I said. I wouldn't see him at school on Monday. John had been taking care of the job tonight which meant we were leaving early tomorrow. On Monday, Sam and I would be at a different high school, a different town, probably a different state.

As we left I felt Dean come up close and gently wrap his arm around my shoulder. Butterflies erupted in my stomach and went haywire when I breathed in his familiar smell.

"I don't think I told you how pretty you looked tonight," he whispered. I smiled softly with a blush tinting my cheeks but looked down so he couldn't see. Three minutes before I had been pissed at him and now he was reminding me that I was falling for him.

I felt my heart break as we drove away. Not because I was leaving George. He was a nice guy, sure, but my heart broke because this was the beginning of the end. Everything was going to change after tonight.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Rosemary.

...

**Wow! You guys are super amazing! Seriously. Thanks to everyone who sent a review. They made me very, very happy. And since you guys did what I asked and gave the last chapter at least 10 reviews (I got a couple more than that) I felt obligated and more than happy to update like you all asked. Can I get more than 10 reviews for this chapter? I know you guys have it in you, and I promise take another break from my script writing to update the next chapter if you guys do. My spring break is almost over so I'll be even way more busy than I was this last week, but I promise if you guys keep sending me reviews that I'll update as often as I can. I've been thinking about doing sort of a contest kind of thing where the prize would be one of you guys having a guest appearance in one of the chapters. I think I know which one it would be too. What do you guys think? Let me know in a review, of course :) Happy Easter!**


	12. The Hunters Split

**Chapter 12**

**July, 2001**

Sam and John had been arguing non-stop.

Sam and I had also been arguing non-stop.

The day after prom he had asked if I talked to the guidance counselor at all to see what colleges I got accepted to. I couldn't lie to him anymore.

"I never sent in any applications," I told him as I packed my duffel.

"What? We filled them all out together." I nodded and shrugged, too afraid to look at him.

"I know, but I didn't mail any of them."

"Why not?" He asked. "You would have gotten accepted to practically all of them. You're a better student than I am."

"I didn't want to mail them." I said.

"So… what? You're just going to find a job then?" I sighed. He really did think that I was leaving too. I shook my head and finally turned to him.

"I'm not leaving Sam," I told him. He was sitting at the bed, staring at me like I had grown another head. "It's not what I want."

"I thought you hated it as much as I did. Following constant orders without really knowing what we were doing and being bossed around like soldiers. I thought you wanted out." I sat in front of him and tried to grab his hand but he quickly stood and started pacing.

"I don't want out. I've never _said_ that I ever wanted to." I told him.

"Then why did you fill out those applications?! Why did you give me hope that maybe I wasn't totally alone in this?" He yelled. I flinched. It was one thing to hear Sam yell, but it was totally different to hear him yelling at you.

"I thought you knew, from that argument John and I had back in December!" I exclaimed. "You definitely heard me say then that I didn't want to leave."

"But I thought you were only saying that to please him!" Sam laughed sarcastically. "Instead you were just doing all this to please me!"

"Oh please Sam!" I cried. "Like you're some wounded puppy. Not everything's about you; get a life!"

"I'm trying too!" He yelled, pounding his fist on the table. "Why don't you get that this isn't living?"

I made a show of pinching my arm.

"Ouch," I deadpanned, "I guess that means I'm living."

"That's not what I meant," he seethed. "You like this life? Traveling to a new town every other week? Putting yourself in horrible situations almost every day? You like all this? You actually enjoy this?"

"As opposed to what? Living a lie? Having a 'perfect' life with lots of friends. What are you going to tell all the friends you make at Stanford? What are you gonna do when something goes bump in the night knowing what you know? You just gonna roll over and fall back asleep? Tell your friends we don't exist or that we're horrible people?"

"It doesn't matter what I tell them, it's not like our lives now are so honest! We scam credit cards, every town we have a different name! Those clothes that you're wearing? You didn't buy those! This crappy motel room? We didn't pay for this! Every single thing we own, except for the Impala? It's been stolen!"

"I'd rather do what I do now, than sit in some cookie cutter classroom twiddling my thumbs all day when I _know_ what's out there." I snapped. "I'm sorry that you thought I wanted to run away with you but I like it where I am."

He clenched his jaw but smirked when Dean and John came back from finding a job. They had stopped in the doorway when they noticed us fighting.

"What's going on here?" John asked. The question went ignored.

"I understand why you want to stay so bad." Sam told me, folding his arms and walking closer to me. "You just can't wait until the day that Dean falls hopelessly in love with you."

My face burnt red from embarrassment and anger. I glanced back at Dean and John. They both were staring at us with wide eyes.

"You can't leave when there might be a chance that he'll reciprocate the feelings that you've been harboring for a long time now." He said.

"Stop it," I whispered.

"Sam," Dean warned. My fists were clenched so tightly that my nails were digging into my palm.

"He's not ever going to fall for you Rosemary. You know that." He glanced over me to Dean and John. "But maybe he'll feel sorry for you and give you a pity fuck just because."

I pulled my arm back with my fist still clenched and punched him so hard I heard my hand crack.

"I fucking hate you, Sam," I cried, running between John and Dean and away from the motel.  
...

Thankfully, nobody had ever brought that up again. Sam and I ignored each other mostly except when we'd say things under our breath. We always heard the other and of course it started a fight. That was the only time I hit Sam, but damn it was a good hit. I had almost broken some bones in my hand and he sported a nasty black eye for a long while.

I was kind of sad that he didn't have it for when we graduated, but it wouldn't have made a difference. We didn't get to be in the huge ceremony because we were hunting, but we picked up our diploma's the next morning before we skipped town.

Dean and I have been awkward to say the least. I can tell that he's been trying to be nice about everything but I know he's uncomfortable when he's left alone with me. I really did mean when I told Sam that I hated him. I hated him for ever opening his mouth about that. I hated that he _knew_ in the first place. How does that always happen? How does everyone else know how you feel except for you and the person you've been crushing on?

I had been running lately to keep in shape. John didn't set up many courses for us like he used to anymore and running helped for many different reasons. Primarily because it was good exercise. I always started with crunches and sit ups before I went on my run. Secondly it helped because it always gave me a good scope of each town. It let me know where things where. Thirdly it gave me an excuse to not be in the same room as Sam or Dean. They were too suffocating.

It was mid July and scorching hot so I had to stop and buy a water bottle at the grocery store that I had been running by. I went outside and sat at the curb to drink my water.

I looked around at all the people who were out today. There were mother's walking their babies in strollers and men and women walking dogs. A few teenagers were out randomly scattered in town too. It was a small town which made me guess that most teenagers left during summer vacation. I felt a pang in my chest watching a couple holding hands.

Damn Sam, I hated him for ever saying those things he said. He was right. Dean was the reason why I wanted to stay. There's nothing I felt I wanted more than to have him feel the same, to have him want to hold me and kiss me. But he was 22 and he was a horny bastard who was only attracted to blondes with huge breasts. Mine weren't small by any means, but my black hair kept me off of his radar. He'd rather have one night stands than a relationship. I hated myself for ever falling for Dean. If I ever wanted to fall for anybody the logical choice was obviously Sam, and I think both Sam and Dean knew that.

If it had been Sam instead of Dean then we'd probably all ready be on a train to California. We'd be signing up for classes and making friends and forgetting that any of this shit was ever real.

I heard a horn honk and I turned to see the Impala parked right behind me in the parking lot. I cursed internally when I saw Dean was driving, without Sam or John. I finished my water bottle and threw it in the trash before getting in the car with him.

"How was your run?" He asked like he was talking about the weather. He wasn't looking at me and I scoffed.

"You're really that uncomfortable around me now, aren't you?" I asked. "And don't lie."

He sighed but still wouldn't look at me. I rolled my eyes and turned away, looking out my window. I had to fix this. I'd rather have him fucking every blonde on the continent if it meant that we'd be back to normal.

"Look," I said, "What Sam said that day,"

"You don't have to explain," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"I do, actually, because you won't even look at me anymore." I snapped. He slowly turned to face me. "What Sam said wasn't the truth."

"Really?" He asked. I could tell he thought I was bullshitting, which I was. I just wasn't finished bullshitting.

"I was attracted to you because of the prom. You were really…"

"Sexy?" He smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"Right," that was the truth. "But it wasn't like how Sam said it. I'm not in love with you. In fact, all those feelings that I had that night are gone."

We locked eyes and I could tell he was searching for the truth. He must have found something because he nodded.

"All right." He held his arms open. "Finish the chick flick moment?"

I laughed and nodded, leaning forward into his arms. I held back from sighing or breathing in his scent and pulled away before he did, just in case he still had doubts.

"Why did you come find me anyway?" I asked, since we were still sitting in the parking lot. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sammy and Dad are fighting. I wasn't looking for you, but I saw you coming out of the store." I nodded as he finally turned on the engine. "Want a ride back? They're probably done by now."

I shook my head.

"I'll run back." I got out of the car.

"Rose," he called before I shut the door. I leaned down to see him. "I'm sorry for how I was acting. I'm sure it didn't help after you and Sam…"

"It's okay Dean," I said with a smile. I was seriously just happy that we were back to normal, even if it was a total lie and I really was still in love with him. "Just as long as you don't do it again."

I shut the door and started jogging away. I turned to wave but he didn't notice. It looked like he was looking at me but then I realized with a jolt that he was staring at my ass as I ran. I laughed to myself because it made me kind of happy. At least he found one part of me attractive.

I heard the Impala drive off and saw him pass me, waving his arm in the window at me. I waved back, smiling slightly. I had been right. He was checking me out.  
...

I made it back to the motel but stopped short as I saw Sam stride out with his duffel, more pissed than I had ever seen him. John quickly filled the door, his face completely red and the veins pulsing in his neck.

"If you leave now don't you dare come back!" John yelled out the door. My heart jumped. What?

"Sam?" I asked, following him. He ignored me. "Sam!"

"I'm leaving Rose, and you heard him. I'm not coming back." He snapped, not turning around. I kept following him.

"No, wait," I grabbed his arm but he pulled out of my grasp and kept walking.

"God damn Rose, go the fuck back to that motel room and stop following me! You've all ready made it clear you're not coming with me!" He raised his hand to wave, obviously sarcastic. I could tell even with his back to me. I stopped at the end of the parking lot.

"I don't want you to go, Sam." I whispered. Either he didn't hear me or he completely ignored me as he continued to walk away, his duffel swinging on his back.

I turned slowly, after Sam had turned the corner and I couldn't see him anymore. John was throwing his stuff in the back of his truck and Dean was watching, trying to talk to him.

"Dad, come on!" He yelled. John ignored him as he jumped into the cab of the truck. I could only watch in horror as he left, going in the opposite direction that Sam did.

I looked at Dean once the truck was out of sight and saw him crossing his arms behind his head before he punched the wall.

What just happened?

...

...

**Uh-oh. Sam and John left and now its just Dean and Rose. Thanks to everyone who left reviews. I usually don't specifically call anyone out, but WithLove1223 left me the most AH-mazing review ever. I appreciate every single review I get, but that review was just a cut above all the rest. Anywho, same deal as before; leave me reviews and I'll find some time to update the next chapter. If I get enough, I'll try to update on Wednesday. That all depends on you all. :) Hope you guys had a good weekend.**


	13. They Learn To Get By

**Chapter 13**

"Before he left he gave us these coordinates," Dean said, handing me the post-it. We had packed up our stuff soon after John left and got on the road. This had been the first time either of us had said anything for hours.

Dean had driven around town at first, obviously to see if he could find Sam somewhere so he could try to convince him to stay with us, but we didn't see him anywhere. In our hearts we both knew that we wouldn't find Sam; he didn't want to be found.

"So this is how it's gonna be from now on?" I asked him quietly. He sighed but glanced at me. "John calling to give us new coordinates for a job and never seeing Sam again?"

He didn't know what to tell me. I knew that. So it was okay when he didn't answer me.

I pulled out the map Dean kept in the glove compartment and started to find where we were going next.

"Dover, Idaho," I told him. Dean sighed and nodded as I told him to turn around and led him out of the state by the back roads.

...

We finally had made it around three in the afternoon the next day and we stopped at a diner to pick up a newspaper and get something to eat.

"What'll you kids have?" Our waitress asked us, holding out her pad and pen.

"I'll have a bacon cheeseburger and fries please," Dean said with a charming smile. She smiled as she wrote it down and then turned to me.

"I'll have a grilled cheese sandwich and a salad," I told her. Just because Dean opted to eat at the cheapest diner's he could find didn't mean that I enjoyed the disgusting grease caked food that Dean always had.

We handed the waitress our menus and I opened the newspaper to see if I could find the job that John had sent us here to do.

"Find anything?" Dean asked. I finished reading the front page and nodded.

"Yeah, in the past two months six men were brutally murdered by their wives." I said. Dean scrunched his eyebrows. "And then the women killed themselves."

"Does it say why?" I shook my head, folding the newspaper and setting it aside as the waitress brought us our food. As I looked at it, I realized how not hungry I was. I felt sick to my stomach ever since yesterday in the motel parking lot when both Sam and John had left us.

I drank a sip of my water and tried to eat some of my salad anyway. I knew that hunting on an empty stomach, no matter how ill you felt, was always a bad idea.

"Are the victim's names in the newspaper?" Dean asked. I looked at it and nodded.

"The last two couples' names are in here; Nancy and Michael O`Brian and Kendra and William Cruise. It says that they both had kids or other family in town."

"So then after this we'll dress up in our monkey suits and go question the families. Which one first?" Dean asked.

"I think the most recent one. It says here that the wife's sister lives nearby." I grabbed half of my sandwich. "Tonight we should check out the house of the last couple. Maybe see if there are clues there."

Dean nodded.

...

Dean was wearing his suit and I had just recently gotten a new black pinstripe pencil skirt with a jacket that matched so I wore that with a white blouse underneath and my heels. Dean had his fake FBI badge, but I didn't have one so we'd have to say that I was his partner and hope that people would accept this without seeing my badge.

We walked up to the home of Nancy O`Brian's sister and Dean knocked on the door. He started to fidget with his tie but I smacked his arm.

"Stop it," I whispered.

"I can't help it, I hate suits." He whined. A second later the door opened.

"Are you Marissa Lorry?" Dean asked. She nodded slightly and Dean pulled out his badge. "We're FBI, I'm Agent Ted Nugent and this is my partner Agent Ann Wilson. We're investigating the recent murder/suicides in your town."

"Uh, okay," she looked behind her before opening the door wider. "Come in."

We smiled politely as we stepped in and she closed the door behind us.

"We're really sorry for your loss. We understand that this isn't easy for you." I said. She nodded.

"Can I get you something to drink?" She asked as we followed her into the living room.

"No, thank you," Dean said as we sat down. "We'd really just like to ask you a few questions, if you wouldn't mind."

"I all ready talked to the police." She said.

"We know," I said. "We read your statement. There are just a few things we'd like to hear for ourselves and maybe clear up some things."

"Okay, whatever I can do I guess." She said, tucking her leg underneath her.

"Was there any reason for Nancy to kill her husband?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No. In all my life I'd never met two people more in love than they were. It didn't make any sense." She said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Was there anyone who would have wanted either of them dead? Maybe someone from work?" Dean asked. Marissa shook her head.

"No, no one like that. Nancy and Michael were really good people." She looked between the two of us. "I don't understand, I thought the police all ready know what happened. Why are you asking about someone who would want them dead?"

Dean and I shared a glance.

"Are you saying maybe Nancy didn't kill herself or her husband?" She asked, tears glistening in her eyes. I could tell she wanted it to be anything other than what the police ruled.

"We don't know. We're saying there's a possibility that it might not be as black and white as previously found." Dean said.

"We just have one more question," I said. Marissa wiped her eyes and nodded. "Did Nancy or Michael know any of the other victims? The Cruise's, Harrison's or the Moore's?"

Heather was quiet as she thought. She started to nod.

"Yes, we all have children around the same age. They all go to the same elementary school."

...

Dean and I were at our motel later that night doing research. He was trying to find any similarities between this case and something in one of the many books we had. I was researching the elementary school that the kids all went to from my laptop.

"I think I might have something," I said as I read an old newspaper article. "In the 50's there was a teacher, Lanie White, at the school who caught her husband cheating on her so she killed her husband and then killed herself."

Dean perked up and came to read over my shoulder. I felt his hot breath tickle my neck and had to control myself from shivering. He had just brushed his teeth so his breath smelled so amazingly minty and fresh.

"The corpse?" He asked.

"Cremated." He cursed and paced away. I kept reading.

"What does it say about the lady that Lanie's husband cheated with?" Dean asked. I did a search in the database.

"She died thirty years later of natural causes." I read. I sighed and sat back. "It has to be the teacher's spirit."

"But she was cremated." He said.

"Right," I agreed, "but what if there's something left of hers somewhere? Maybe in the school? The article said that she had donated a lot of money and things to the school."

Dean sighed and turned to face me.

"I guess we're just going to have to break into the school and find out." I shrugged and nodded.

...

The janitor was just locking up the school when we arrived and Dean quickly took him out. I grabbed his keys as Dean dragged the guy into some bushes in case someone came by and saw him passed out. I unlocked the door and as soon as Dean passed by me inside, I closed the door. We looked around.

"Split up?" I asked. Dean bit his lip and shook his head.

"No, we'll stick together. I have a bad feeling." He turned and started walking down one hall. We each pulled out a flashlight and I started looking around. There was an old quilt hanging on the wall in the front entrance and many trophies scattered everywhere. Cute pictures that the children had obviously painted were taped to the walls.

A door slammed behind us and we quickly turned to see if someone was there. Dean grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him since I had been dragging behind and we turned off our flashlights.

Old music started playing over the intercoms and I turned to Dean fearfully.

"I think she's here." I whispered. He nodded and I clasped his hand tightly in mine, scared shitless. I had been around this stuff so much, hell I knew more spirits and demons than actual people but it still managed to creep me the fuck out.

"Just stay close, okay?" Dean said, squeezing my hand. I nodded and we turned on our flashlights again and started searching more quickly. "I wish we knew what we were looking for."

"I think you're looking for me," my heart dropped to the center of the Earth as we both turned around and saw Lanie. Blood was dripping from her stomach and she was holding an old kitchen knife in her hand. Her arms had cuts and slices all over. Dean pulled my hand gently and slowly so that he was in front of me.

"Why would you cheat on me!?" She screamed suddenly, raising the knife high above her head.

"Dean!" I shrieked. He quickly turned and started to run, pulling me with him. We turned down the corner but she materialized a few feet in front of us again. I took a deep breath and started looking around.

"I'm not your husband," Dean said calmly, letting go of my hand and holding both of his up to show he meant no harm. "I didn't cheat on you, okay?"

She didn't say anything, but she flickered before disappearing.

"Now we split up," Dean said. "You got matches?"

I nodded and held up a flask. "And lighter fluid."

He nodded, impressed.

"I just thought that was something to take the edge off," he said, smirking. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, I get drunk at prom and all of a sudden I'm an alcoholic."

"Hey, I didn't say that Rose," he said. "Just that you need to cut back a little."

A horribly loud screeching noise was blaring from the speakers now and I covered my ears.

"If you find anything that could be it, burn it." He said, over the noise. I nodded and turned to go the way we came. I heard his footsteps go down the way we had been heading and I tried to calm myself down. Panicking now would be a really bad idea.

I started searching through classrooms, looking for anything, a plaque or something that could have been keeping her spirit here but I didn't find anything. I found the staffroom and tried to open it but it was locked. I took out the keys from the janitor and started trying every single one on the ring. Finally, after so many keys, I found one that fit and quickly went in.

A stereo started playing and I turned to it as the door slammed behind me. I quickly looked towards the door and saw Lanie on the other side, watching me. She walked through the closed door slowly with her knife raised. I quickly backed up until I hit the wall and looked around for anything. I kept shuffling away from her, lucky that she wasn't charging at me just yet, and kept looking around.

She flickered and disappeared and I looked all around the room, trying to find where she went. Dean couldn't have burned the object all ready because she would have burst up in flames too.

I felt searing pain in my arm and I looked down to see my forearm being sliced by nothing. I cried and held my arm to my stomach.

"Stupid bitch!" I cried. I hated when spirits went all invisible and did stuff like that. It was like they were mocking us. I quickly ran to the door and tried to get it open. The lock was on the inside but the door wouldn't open even when I turned the lock. A framed photo that was above the door crashed down to the floor as I started kicking and shoving the door.

Lanie's spirit was still invisible when I felt her cutting my other arm like the first. I turned and fell back against the door, sliding to the floor in pain. The cut stopped and Lanie appeared at the other side of the room. I put my right hand on the ground to help me get back up but winced when I felt the broken glass from the photo cut into my palm. I looked down at my hand and cursed myself.

"Hang on," I whispered as I saw the photo on the ground. I picked it up carefully and stared at the image of Lanie sewing a giant quilt. I remembered the quilt hanging in the front entry way and grinned. I bet she put a lot of time, sweat and blood into that quilt. I quickly pulled out my cell and dialed Dean's number. It took a few tries to get the numbers right since I was starting to feel woozy from all the blood loss. I looked up to check Lanie's ghost but didn't see it. The smile fell from my face. I quickly stood and tried the door again, making sure it was unlocked. It still wouldn't open and I knew she was still here.

"Did you find it?" Dean asked as soon as he answered.

"It's the quilt, in the front." I said. That horrible screeching sound invaded my ears again but this time it wasn't over the speakers. I turned to see words being carved into the chalkboard.

"Oh God," I whispered.

"What? What's wrong Rose?" He asked. I saw him pass the room out of the corner of my eye. I looked back up at the chalkboard.

_I'm going to kill you_

I jumped when Dean knocked on the glass part of the door.

"What are you doing?" I cried into the phone. He tried to open the door and then realized what was happening when Lanie appeared in front of me again. He quickly ran towards the quilt and I couldn't see him anymore.

Little slices were being cut all over my body until I was a mess on the floor. Lanie stood over me with a sadistic grin.

"I'm going to kill you," she whispered. She raised the knife up again and I squeezed my eyes shut.

Nothing happened. I opened my eyes in time to see her disappear into flames and then nothing.

I let out the huge breath that I didn't know I had been holding and let my whole body collapse on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Rose!" The door opened, thankfully, and Dean rushed over. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

I nodded and let him help me up. He winced when he noticed the cuts on my forearms.

"I think you're going to need stitches." I sighed and nodded. I knew stitches meant homemade stitches. I didn't want to go to a hospital anyway. It'd be hard to explain where I got all the cuts.

"Come on; let's get going back to the motel." He said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me out of the school. I tossed the keys on the janitor as we passed and we got into the Impala, driving to our motel. I definitely needed sleep.

...

**What did you guys think of their first hunt by themselves? And what do you guys think will happen next? It's just Rose and Dean by themselves for a while which should please a couple of my regular reviewers :) Leave me lots and lots of loverly reviews and I'll update the next chapter by next Sunday. Or who knows, maybe if I get enough to satisfy my hunger I'll update sooner. Peace out, hombres! **


	14. His Proverbial Wall

**Chapter 14**

I winced as Dean finished the last stitch and grabbed the bottle of vodka that he had used to clean the wounds and took a couple chugs. He wrapped gauze around them gently, taping the ends.

"That was intense." I said, falling back on my bed.

"Getting stitched without any anesthesia?" Dean asked.

"Well, yeah that. But I was actually talking about doing our first complete hunt." Dean nodded, moving to his own bed and turning on the television. "What happens next?"

"I don't know." Dean answered. "We find another job, I guess."

"Should we call your dad and see if he has one for us all ready?" I asked. Dean shrugged.

"I'll call in the morning." He said, looking at the clock. I looked too and was surprised to see it was almost three in the morning. Time must fly when you're locked in a classroom with a vengeful spirit. I sat up and rummaged through my bag, taking out my pajamas and going to the bathroom to change. I locked the door behind me and looked at myself in the mirror.

I took off all my clothes and checked all over my body, wincing when I realized how many tiny cuts I had gotten. I hoped they wouldn't scar, but I knew the two that Dean has stitched would scar. I sighed as I noticed that all the small cuts had all ready dried and formed scabs which meant that they would heal quickly. I was thankful for that.

I changed into my boxers and a tank top and left the bathroom. Dean had all ready shut off the lights but was still watching T.V. I noticed it was Oprah and he quickly changed the channel. I smirked and I tossed my clothes on top of my duffel and crawled into bed.

"Can you change it back to Oprah until I fall asleep?" I asked. I knew he secretly watched Oprah whenever he could, but he would never admit it.

"Why? Does hearing big black women give away stuff for free help you sleep?" He asked sarcastically, but switching it back anyway. I just shut my eyes and ignored him.

"Night Dean," I whispered.

"Night Rose."

...

...

I woke up the next morning when Dean entered the motel, dressed and ready to go. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was still early.

"Why are you up?" I asked while clearing my throat since it was still laden with sleep. He grinned and held up a bag that I guessed has breakfast in it.

"I got you breakfast." I groaned.

"Bullshit, it's only nine." I sat up. "You never get up by yourself this early."

His smile faltered and I could have punched myself. Dean was freaking out over his family leaving. He was just trying to hide it from me.

"Do you need to talk?" I asked. He rolled his eyes as he put the bag on the table. There goes his wall again.

"No," he said, "do _you_ need to talk?"

He was being sarcastic so I ignored him and went over to the table to eat my breakfast. As soon as I used my arms to steady myself in my chair all the pain came back to me and reminded me of the other night.

"Ow," I whined, plopping into the chair and looking at my wrapped up arms. Dean came over and started to unwrap one of them.

"I got you some pain killers for your arms, too. We didn't have many left but I knew you'd be popping them as soon as you woke up." I smiled in thanks. "These aren't as nasty as I thought last night. I'll be able to take the stitches out in a couple weeks or so."

He was about to wrap my arm back up but I shook my head.

"Might as well leave it off. I'm gonna take a shower once I'm done eating." He nodded and sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard.

"Dad called this morning," he said after a while. I looked up at him but he was keeping his gaze on the television.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He said that he was working on something that was going to take a while, but if he found any jobs he'd send coordinates. He said that for now we should scope stuff out for ourselves." I nodded and went back to my breakfast.

So that had been what woke him up.

...

...

Once I finished my breakfast I took the gauze off my other arm and got a change of clothes and went to take a shower. It killed me how upset Dean was because of the huge fight between Sam and John. I knew that Sam was going to leave anyway, but I thought he'd wait until the end of the summer and I thought that maybe John would have warmed up to the idea. Dean was definitely torn, not wanting to choose between the two but having to follow his father. It was who Dean was.

I came out of the shower and put my pajamas in my duffel, taking my clothes from the other night and threw away the t-shirt. It was too trashed from the cuts but the jeans were manageable so I put them in the dirty clothes duffel. I noticed that Dean was on my computer.

"I swear if you're on I'm going to rip your balls off." I threatened, glaring at him. He looked over at me like he was offended with the accusation.

"I'd never!" He exclaimed. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the gauze from the nightstand and tried to wrap my arms. It was difficult and Dean must have noticed so he came over and helped. He took the gauze from me and gently wrapped it around my arms.

"I was actually trying to find us a job," He said, taping the first arm. He started wrapping up my other arm.

"Did you find one?" I asked. He shook his head.

"You should look, though. I'm not very good on the computer." I laughed.

"Probably because the only thing you know how to do is," he interrupted me.

"If you say what I think you're going to say, I'll," this time I interrupted him.

"You'll… what?" I asked, smirking at him. "What do you think you could do to me?"

He glanced up at me as he cut the gauze and pressed his finger a little harder onto one of my cuts.

"Son of a bitch!" I cried, pain searing up my arm. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"You didn't think that I would do anything. I had to prove you otherwise." He smirked, taping up the gauze. I grabbed the scissors, tape and gauze from him with a glare and stuffed them back into the first aid bag. I went to sit in front of my laptop and was pleased to see that he really had been looking for jobs. And none of the keys were sticky. I did a search for recent deaths in the nation and looked to see if there were any patterns.

"Finding anything?" Dean asked. I clicked on a link.

"Maybe," I said. "5 people have jumped off the Grand Canyon and fallen to their deaths in the last month."

"Wow," Dean cringed. I looked up.

"Coincidence?" I asked. He stared at me with his eyebrow raised.

"Is it ever?" He asked rhetorically.

"Very true," I said, closing my laptop.

**Grand Canyon, Arizona**

"Do we have to climb to the very top?" Dean whined, breathing heavily behind me. I rolled my eyes. "I mean, isn't there a shuttle that we could have taken?"

"We've barely walked a mile and a half." I said, smirking. "Are you really that out of shape?"

He glared at me and picked up his pace. I grinned, knowing I'd get that reaction. Now he wouldn't whine and he'd go faster than a snail.

"So what are we looking for?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Could be anything, although this doesn't seem very demon worthy." He added. I nodded.

"Not unless the demon has some way of making the people walk off the edge into the canyon," I said. Dean glanced at me.

"That's true; have we ever dealt with a demon that could do that? A demon that could convince someone to kill themselves?" I shrugged.

"Remember the demon we were after during that whole homecoming ordeal?"

We climbed to the top where the guest center was, plus a restaurant. Dean and I ate a quick lunch and headed to the guest center. The bell ringed above us as we opened the door and we were greeted by a ranger.

"Hello," he said, shaking our hands. We smiled. "Can I help you?"

"No, we're just killing time until the shuttle comes." I answered, looking around. There were lots of things to attract tourists to buy in here, plus maps and other random things.

"So what do you think about all the people walking off the edge?" Dean asked the ranger. I pretended not to listen as I looked at the cute stuffed animals. I really wanted the coyote. Ooh, or the road runner.

"It's tragic; nothing's happened like this since I've been a ranger here." He answered. "And each one was so quick too. One minute they were talking with their friends and family and the next thing you see, they're jumping off the edge. All of them were men, too."

"I hope it's not affecting the amount of visitors." Dean said.

"Actually it's brought more people out here, which is nice. I just wish we could get more people to come because of the canyon itself, not because of the suicides." Dean didn't say anything so I guess he nodded and walked away.

"See anything you want?" I turned and saw a different ranger. I was still holding the small coyote in my hand.

"Maybe," I said with a smile. She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." She walked away and I stared after her. That had been weird.

Dean came over to where I was and I put the coyote back on the display.

"Something doesn't feel right," he said quietly. I nodded. "Let's go wait outside for the shuttle."

We sat on a bench that was slightly shaded from the sun and I checked the times. The shuttle would arrive in ten or so minutes.

I scratched my shoulder and looked at Dean.

"Will you please open up to me?" I said. He looked at me confused. I sighed. "You have a giant wall that nobody can climb over or break through and soon it's going to crumble down on you."

He raised his eyebrows.

"That was one hell of an analogy." I rolled my eyes. There goes that wall again. He shifted in his seat and I just crossed my legs.

Fine, if he didn't want to talk about it then that was the last time I'd ask.

"All right," he sighed. "I'm mad as hell at Sammy for leaving and I'm mad as hell at Dad for telling him not to come back. I'm pissed at Dad because he left us without so much as a word of where he was going and I'm worried about where Sam is and if he's okay."

I watched him as he bent forward and rested his elbows on his knees and rested his forehead on his palms.

"I'm worried sick about the both of them. I miss them but neither of them answer their phones when I call. I'm beginning to think that Sammy ditched his phone all together."

He sat back against the bench again.

"I don't know what to do anymore." He said quietly. I scooted a little closer and rested my head on his shoulder, hoping to give him some comfort. I subconsciously registered his usual smell and I felt him tense for a second before wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"We're gonna be fine." I told him. I felt him sigh as the hot air bounced off the top of my head.

...

...

**Woohoo! I finished my 100 page script, and it is pretty awesome if I do say so myself. And tomorrow starts the month of May which means regular Sunday (maybe + Wednesday) posts and hopefully lots of flowers. There was way too much April rain for me. I didn't post this past Sunday for a couple reasons, one of which was because I was way behind on my script, but the other was because I didn't get an awesome amount of reviews :( Hopefully I'll get more this time (and from now on, *crosses fingers*). **

**Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. What did you think they're going to be hunting this time? Leave me some amazing reviews and you'll find out :)  
**


	15. Harder to Breathe

**Chapter 15**

"I'm going out," Dean said later that night, grabbing his leather jacket and heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, sitting at the table and eating the very low quality Chinese take-out that we had gotten a little earlier.

"I'm gonna hustle some money at this bar I saw down the road." He lied. "Don't wait up for me."

He shut the door and I sighed as I heard the Impala start up and drive away. We had no clue what we were dealing with, Dean had finally opened up, and now he was going off to get drunk. I understood that he was having a hard time adjusting to everything, but seriously.

I decided to go through the journal I had been keeping since I really started hunting. I wrote about every single thing we'd come across and I'd made sure to keep it extremely detailed. The thick book was almost full of entries and I'd have to buy a new one soon. I hoped that maybe there'd be something in it to give me a vague idea about what we were dealing with.

I tossed the rest of the food out and rubbed my forehead in frustration. I wished Sam was still with us. At least then I'd have a little help trying to figure stuff out instead of Dean leaving it all to me. He always had a better attention span than I did.

I read back to the entries I had from the demon we dealt with those years ago to see if we were dealing with the same thing but nothing matched up. Those were all different types of suicides at different places and these people were all jumping off the same cliff.

Maybe it was a spirit of some sort? But that didn't explain why people were just jumping off the cliffs. It's not like a spirit got pushed off the cliff and was now pushing people off the same cliff.

I decided to read about different Native American legends to see if I could piece anything together. It was two in the morning when I finally found something that matched what was happening. I started reading the legend and became almost positive.

According to some tribes, the sun had a beautiful daughter. She could only walk the Earth where the sun shined which meant that she couldn't grace the Earth during the night. She was so beautiful that not every man could see her, only those who she deemed to be a potential suitor. However, when she approached these men she found that they would chase after her. She'd enjoy the chase so much that she'd forget that mortals couldn't walk on air and as she ran off a cliff and stayed where she was, the men would fall to their deaths.

I closed my laptop and yawned, stretching my arms above my head. I looked at the time. It was 2:30 and Dean still wasn't back. I sighed and rested my head down on top of the laptop. It was still warm and I let it lull me to sleep.

...

...

I sat up with a jolt when the door slammed shut. I rubbed my eyes but froze when I heard giggling. I looked up and tried to adjust my eyes to the dark, cringing at the sight in front of me. Dean was back, naked on his bed with a naked blonde bouncing on top of him. I grabbed my cell phone and quietly snuck out of the room, leaning against the door as soon as I shut it behind me.

I tried to hold back my emotions, the hurt and the pain, but I was so tired. I sat on the ground against the door and held my phone in my hands as tears streamed down my face.

Dean had left me while I was working on our job to get drunk and pick up a girl. He obviously had forgotten that I was there or he figured that I'd keep sleeping through their escapade. I wiped my eyes and opened my cell while I tried to control my breathing. I dialed the familiar number that my fingers ached to call and rested my thumb over the call button.

I don't know how long I sat there before I finally hit the green button but I noticed that it was beginning to get lighter in the sky. The phone rang and I didn't know if I was disappointed or relieved when I heard his voicemail.

"Hey it's Sam. I'm busy right now so leave me a message and I'll call you back." I waited for the beep and sighed.

"It's Rose." I paused. What was I going to say to him? I didn't even know. "I, uh, I miss you."

Tears blurred my vision again and my throat was too constricted. It felt like it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I cleared my throat.

"I really miss you." I whispered. I sniffed and wiped my eyes. I opened my mouth to say something else, anything else, but there wasn't anything to say.

I hung up the phone and put my face in my hands as my tears fell freely from my face. I felt abandoned by everyone. My dad died when I was a baby, my mom died when I was four, I never kept in touch with Ellen after John took me with him, then Sam left and John left and Dean hasn't really been here since they left. I just couldn't understand why he didn't see that I was hurting too.

I cried until I didn't have any tears left and it left my teeth buzzing. I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes. I was stronger than this and there was no way in hell that I was going to let Dean be the one who made me cry.

I checked the time and saw that it was six in the morning. I didn't know what time Dean had come back so I had no clue how long I had been sleeping at the table. Long enough for me to get a kink in my neck, anyway. I took another deep breath before exhaling it out a moment later and stood up. I was up, and there was no way in hell I was going back inside the motel room. It was time to get some work done.

I walked over to the Impala and checked to see if possibly he had left the keys in there. He's done it before when he was drunk and I almost smiled when I saw them in the center console. The doors were locked but I easily picked it and drove off.

I stopped at a bakery and bought myself a muffin and coffee and decided to hit up the county library to find any more information on the legend we were possibly dealing with. If I was right then that meant we were dealing with a deity and those were nasty to get rid of.

"Can I help you find something?" I turned from the shelf of books I was looking through and smiled at the librarian.

"I'm looking up a Native American legend," I said. She laughed.

"Well there are a lot of them. Do you know which one specifically? Or which tribe the legend belonged to?" I nodded.

"It was about the sun's daughter and how she was so beautiful she entranced men to chase after her."

"And they chase her right off a cliff." She smiled and nodded and started walking up the aisle. "I know exactly which book you need. It's one version of a Cherokee legend."

She picked a book off the shelf and handed it to me. I started thumbing through until I found the legend that I was looking for.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" She asked. I nodded.

"Can you copy these pages for me?"

...

...

I shut the door to the Impala, making sure to bring the keys with me, and brought in my second cup of coffee and the pages I had copied from the book. I had spent a little more time at the library highlighting specific parts so that Dean wouldn't have to read the whole thing and also so that I could procrastinate going back to the motel room.

It was almost ten, though, so I was hoping that the girl had all ready left. I peeked inside the motel room and looked over at his bed. He was curled up on one side and the other side's sheets were tossed aside. I didn't see the girl anywhere. I thankfully walked all the way in and tossed the papers on the table. I sat down and opened up my laptop, figuring that I could try and find any way to get rid of the deity.

I froze as I heard the toilet flush and looked up at the bathroom, only then noticing that the door had been closed the whole time. The door opened and the blonde from this morning walked out, completely naked.

"Oh my god," I said, dumbstruck. She snapped her head towards me and then screamed. I rolled my eyes. "Shut up!"

Dean woke with a start as the girl ran to his bed and jumped under the covers. He fell out of the bed but stood up, trying to regain his senses. I covered my eyes when I realized he was still naked too.

"Oh, shit, Rosie," I heard him curse.

"Who is that?" The girl asked.

"Sorry, my bad." I said, grabbing the papers off the table and using them to block the two naked people. I started to walk outside. "This isn't my room. My roommate would have had the decency to bring random girls to a different motel room."

"Rose, wait," I shut the door and went to sit in the Impala, thankful that I still had the keys in my pocket. A few minutes later the girl came out of the room and just walked away and then Dean came out a moment after.

I couldn't look him in the face. I was mortified with _everything_ that I saw, and now he still wasn't wearing a shirt. He looked good. He looked _really_ good. I just wished he'd put his shirt on before coming to talk to me. I couldn't help but laugh when I realized how embarrassed he was as he opened the driver's door and got into the car. And when I say laugh I mean I was laughing so hard that it made no noise coming out. Tears were streaming down my face.

I was beyond hurt with what he had done, but at that moment it was funnier than anything else I could have imagined.

Dean didn't know what was wrong.

"I'm _so_ sorry," he said and then watched me. "Are you laughing at me?"

I waved the papers at my face to cool me down but I nodded, bending over and holding my stomach.

"I'm sorry," I gasped, "I can't stop."

He just sat and watched until I had calmed down enough.

"Oh man," I exhaled. I wiped my eyes and started giggling again.

"Are you done?" He asked, obviously not as amused as I was. I nodded again. I bit my lip so that I wouldn't set off again and turned towards him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "I was so drunk last night,"

"Really?" I asked, a few giggles escaping through. I was seriously going crazy. Hours before I was feeling every negative emotion running through my veins. It still hurt to think about it but everything else was just so comical that I couldn't help but laugh. I had to admit that it helped with the hurting a bit.

He glared at me and I lightly smacked my cheeks to calm down. I put on a straight face and nodded for him to continue.

"I just forgot everything last night," He said finally. I nodded.

"It's okay, really," I told him. He smirked and we got out of the car. He walked ahead of me and I started laughing again when I saw the claw marks down his back. He turned to stare at me.

"Your back!" I shrieked between laughs. He scrunched his eyebrows together before hurrying into the bathroom to see.

"Holy shit," he muttered.

...

...

We were at a diner since Dean needed to restore his energy (insert eye roll here) and I caught him up with everything I had researched.

"So it's the sun's daughter that's making these fools jump off the edge?" Dean asked. I nodded. "How do we get rid of her?"

I shrugged. "I don't know yet. I was hoping you could actually help with that."

He glared at me and the waiter brought him his food.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything?" He asked me. I smiled and shook my head.

"I'm fine thanks,"

"You sure? Nothing to drink? Not a side of fries or anything?" He pressed. He was definitely being sweet.

"She said no," Dean snapped. The waiter promptly left. "Guess who's not getting a tip."

"Do you have to be such a jackass? He was being polite." I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "And besides, you never leave male waiters any tip."

"Please, he was staring at your cleavage. All he wanted to do was take you out back." I full on glared at him.

"Seriously, what is up with you? And don't blame being hung over for your attitude." He scoffed.

"Well it's not like I'm an uptight prude or anything." He couldn't even look at me when he insulted me.

"You're insulting me for not having drunk sex with a whore?" I grabbed the papers from him and scooted out of the booth.

"Where are you going?" He asked, looking up with wide eyes.

"You," I snapped, "are grating on my last nerve! I was up all night working while you were out drinking. I didn't have a problem or say anything. I wake up to you screwing some walking disease and I still don't say anything,"

"Wait, you were awake this morning?" He asked quickly, blushing. I sat back down in the booth, gripping the edge tightly. "What did you hear?"

"I left before you made my ears bleed and made me want to gouge my eyes out, don't worry." He relaxed. I rolled my eyes and looked outside. "Why are you punishing me?"

He frowned and stared at me, shaking his head slowly.

"I'm not." He said.

"You are." I argued. "Your dad and Sam didn't just leave you, Dean. They left me, too. You guys are my only family and now I don't know if I'm ever going to see them again."

"We will," Dean said quietly. I shook my head.

"You don't know that. Right now, we're all we have. We have to work together if we're going to survive." I sighed. "I need your help, Dean. I can't do this by myself."

I turned away from him.

"You're right," he said softly. I turned back to him. "You basically are a Winchester too, and you are completely right."

He held his hands out and I handed him the papers back.

"Deity's are nasty. I don't think we've ever dealt with one in person before. I've only ever heard of 'em." He said, flipping through the pages.

"I know, I went through my journal and I couldn't find anything to help." He glanced up at me.

"You keep a journal?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I keep a hunting journal, yeah. So does your dad. You should be keeping one too." He shrugged.

"So you write about… what?" Where was he going with this?

"I write about every hunt." I cocked my head. "Why?"

He grinned. "Just checking."

"There's nothing personal in there, if you're thinking that you can just open it up and read my innermost secrets." He frowned.

"Really?" I nodded. "There's nothing personal?"

I bit my lip and thought about it, shaking my head.

"Nothing except for the hunt." I said. It was the truth.

"Damn," I rolled my eyes.

...

...

**What a douche. I know, I know. Everyone is getting antsy for something to actually happen between Dean and Rose but let's all remember that patience is a virtue. I promise it will happen all in good time and it will well be worth the wait when it does happen ;) trust me on that. Please just take a few seconds out of your time to leave me a review. If you can take the time out to add the story to your favorites or your alerts (which is totally awesome and I thank you all for that) then you probably have a few more seconds to spare. Don't feel embarrassed or anything, because I love every single review I get, big or small. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys had a good weekend :) I'll be back next Sunday, unless you guys make me happy enough by Wednesday.  
**


	16. It Gets Worse Before it Gets Better

**Chapter 16**

Dean and I found out about a professor at the local University who taught classes on Native American Legends so we decided to see if we could find any information about the deity we were dealing with.

"Professor Narez?" I asked, knocking on his open office door. Dean was close behind me. Narez looked up from his computer and waved us in.

"How can I help you?" He asked as we sat down in front of his desk.

"We were wondering what you knew about the Cherokee legend of the sun's daughter." Dean said.

"Which one?" The professor chuckled. "There are so many variations of it."

"The one where she lures mortal men to chase after her beauty and they follow her right off a cliff." I said. Professor Narez nodded.

"Yes, that's a good variation of it. The only one where she's beautiful, anyway. Usually she's really ugly and, like the sun, when people look at her they have to squint." He said and I nodded. I had read that online. "What did you want to know?"

"Did the Native American's ever tell a way of summoning a deity like the sun's daughter?" He got up and walked over to his bookshelf, scanning the titles.

"There were many rituals that they would perform, mainly dances like the ever popular rain dance," he pulled a book off the shelf and brought it back to his seat before opening it and flipping through the pages. "There are also many totems, like statues, that were used as symbols for gods and deity's. They each had their own totem."

He showed us the book and pointed to the left page which had the picture of the totem for our deity.

"How does it work?" Dean asked.

"Well, according to the Cherokee tribes, they'd start with a ritual dance for the god or whoever they were trying to interact with and then make a sort of paint out of natural herbs and river water. They'd use the paint and draw the symbol near an offering of their freshest fish. The tribe's shaman would then call upon whoever it was they were summoning."

"Is there any way that it could be reversed? Make the god or deity go away?" I asked.

"Smoke peyote, take a wild trip in a steam hut and try to convince them to leave." He said, chuckling. Dean and I glanced at each other. As amazing as smoking peyote sounded, we doubted it'd be easy to convince her to leave.

"That's it?" Dean asked. Professor Narez shook his head and went back over to his bookshelf and pulled out another book.

"There's another ritual the natives would perform. If it was performed correctly then you would essentially capture it so you could force the god back to wherever it came from." I smiled as he showed us a page from the book he had just gotten.

It looked like it required drawing the symbol of the totem, a fire, an offering, some herbs and a little blood. Nothing we couldn't handle.

"Is there a way we could get a copy of this page?" I asked. He nodded and took it, turning to his scanner and printing a copy for us right then.

...

"So how are you?" Dean asked as we walked out of the building. I glanced at him suspiciously as we got into the Impala.

"Fine?" I replied. He sighed as he started the car. We were off to find some of these herbs.

"I meant, how are you with everything that's happened lately?" He reiterated. I shrugged.

"Okay, I guess."

"You guess?" He asked skeptically.

"I mean, well, considering everything that happened I could be a lot worse." I said. _I could have lost you too_, I thought to myself. He turned into a grocery store parking lot and quickly turned into a free spot right in front. He turned off the engine and pulled out the key and then turned to look at me. I stopped taking off my seatbelt mid-process and tilted my head to look back up at him.

His eyes flickered downward for a quick second before returning to my eyes. I could see my reflection in his pupils and noticed how dilated they were. He gulped and started to lower his head closer to mine. My heart started pounding like crazy in my chest and I couldn't believe if this was actually happening.

His mouth opened slightly and I closed my eyes, ready to finally feel his lips against my own…

Dean's cell went off and I jumped in my seat, smashing my nose into his chin.

"Shit," I cursed, pulling away and covering my nose with my hands. Dean quickly pulled out his cell phone from his jeans and looked at the number. He glanced at me with wide eyes before he answered his phone.

"Dad?" I sat up and turned to him. "Yeah, we're fine."

Dean looked up and we caught each other's eyes but he averted his eyes a second later. I felt my face grow hot as it probably turned about three-thousand shades of bright red. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to prevent an onslaught of tears. I couldn't believe what was just about to happen. I mean, I'm 94% positive we were just about to kiss. I pushed it out of my mind and touched my nose gingerly, tuning back into Dean's conversation with John.

"A deity. We're trying to get together some stuff so we can perform a ritual later tonight. It should take care of it." Dean mimed writing on a piece of paper so I opened the glove box and shifted through the crap before I found a pen and an old receipt. I handed them to Dean. He looked around for a flat surface and I sighed as I turned my back to him, indicating for him to use my back.

I felt the pressure in between my shoulder blades so I swept my hair to one side so it wouldn't get in his way.

"Yeah, we'll definitely meet up there. Three days, got it." I turned back around once the pressure left my back and saw Dean hanging up the phone. He smirked.

"Looks like we're meeting up in Washington this weekend." I tried to smile as he got out of the car and started to make his way into the grocery store. He stopped before he passed through the automatic doors and turned to me with a questioning glance. I took a deep breath and sighed, trying to calm my nerves. I checked my nose in the rearview mirror to make sure there wasn't any blood or anything and finally got out of the car.

It was good to know that John hadn't abandoned us. I should have known that he didn't, but it was hard to be sure, especially with the way he had left. I just couldn't help but hate John for not waiting two freaking minutes-

"You okay?" Dean asked as he grabbed a basket and handed it to me. "You look angry."

I shot him a look that clearly said 'don't fuck with me' and brushed past him with the list of things we needed.

I wondered how long we'd stay with John before we split up again.

And I also wondered where things would have gone in the car if John hadn't called.

...

...

We had managed to find all the supplies we needed and we found a good place in the middle of nowhere where we could perform the ritual without any interruptions. We had also come to the silent understanding that we weren't going to talk about what had happened earlier. I started mixing everything together for the paint and then used the picture we had of the totem to copy the symbol onto the giant flat rock we had set up by.

Dean was starting a fire and he unwrapped the fish we had managed to catch from the river earlier. He set it in the middle of the symbol and stepped back.

Okay, so we had stolen the fish from someone else who had caught it, but it didn't matter. We didn't have the time to catch our own fish anyway; we had to be in Washington in three days. Which meant if we didn't finish tonight then we'd probably be screwed. And besides, I left ten bucks in replacement which is way more than he would have sold the fish for.

"Rose," Dean said suddenly. I looked up at him from the rock, my heart starting to beat faster. I tried to remind myself not to get my hopes up. "I've kinda been a mess lately."

"Yeah," I said softly. "I noticed."

"There's something you don't know." He told me, averting his eyes. I narrowed my eyes at him in question. What the hell was he talking about? My eyes widened slightly; was he going to tell me that he had feelings other than familial ones for me?

"You can tell me anything, Dean." I told him. He nodded, still not looking at me. He exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I've been seeing someone," he said.

My heart plummeted to the ground and I stared at Dean in shock. How could I not know that?

"For how long?" I asked. My voice was shaking but Dean didn't seem to notice. I couldn't help but wonder why everything in my life was turning to shit. Did Dean know that I loved him? Was he doing all of this just to hurt me? I couldn't tell anymore.

"It's been a while," he admitted. He cleared his throat and finally turned to look at me. I could see his eyes brimming with tears and all my previous thoughts of him hurting me flew out the door. I moved so I was standing in front of him and I picked my heart back up from the ground. "But uh," he cleared his throat, "she broke up with me. Right after everything that happened."

"I'm sorry, Dean." I told him honestly. As hurt as I was, I could tell he really had feelings for this girl. "Did you, uh… did you love her?"

He stared at me for a second, hesitating to answer. He dropped his head. "Yeah."

We stood like that for a few moments. I was thinking about Dean in a relationship. It hurt because I wanted to be the one to make Dean want to be serious. I wanted Dean to be serious about me, and I wanted him to love me. And now this happened? Some bitch broke his heart. She obviously hadn't known what she had. I tried to think of times when he had been missing for long periods of time, but couldn't think of any besides when John sent him and Sam off on research jobs.

My hands clenched in anger; I would have never hurt Dean. I wouldn't have ever let him go.

Dean cleared his throat, pulling me from my internal rant and he looked up. All traces of what had just happened were gone; no tears or sadness. Now it was all business. Pretty soon I was going to run out of energy trying to keep up with Dean's switching emotions so quickly. I was all ready starting to go numb from everything else.

"What next?" Dean asked. I watched him for a moment, making sure he'd be all right and trying to convince myself that I'd be all right. I shook my head and looked over the papers we had copied earlier. Of course Dean wouldn't be all right, but he was just going to pretend he was.

I pulled out a knife from my old book bag and went to stand over the fish. Dean stepped forward and held his hands out. "Whoa, hold on,"

I turned to him with the knife raised to the stitches that were still on my arms.

"What?" I asked. "You want to use your blood? I thought I was doing us a favor since I'm all ready hurt, but if you want to cut your arm then go for it."

I held the knife to him and he glared at me as he stepped forward to take it. I shrugged and walked off the rock, letting him take my place. He kneeled down and raised his arm over the fish and put the knife right up to his skin. A second later he was running the blade through his skin and blood was dripping down. He stood and jumped off the rock.

"And now?" He asked. I sighed and looked over the paper. I shook my head.

"Now we wait." I said, taking a seat on the ground. He stayed standing for a minute before he sat down next to me. I pulled out some gauze from my bag. We always had a large supply of it and I had brought some with us since I knew we would need it. He took it from me, not letting me take care of it for him but as soon as he started wrapping up his cut the ground started shaking.

"Is this an earthquake?" Dean asked over the rumble. I nodded, bracing myself as the giant rock split in half. The fish fell through the crack and Dean and I glanced at each other. Suddenly I thought of something.

"Dean, close your eyes," I told him.

"Why?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Do you want to go chasing after her off a cliff, too?" I asked sarcastically. His jaw clenched and he sighed aggravatingly before shutting his eyes tightly. Light started shining through the crack in the rock and the earthquake subsided. I shielded my eyes from the blinding light.

"Why have you trapped me?" I heard a celestial voice. I squinted my eyes and looked up above the rock. It looked like a miniature display of the Northern Lights, only really, really ridiculously bright.

Now came the ridiculous task of trying to convince this bitch to go home.

"You're killing people," I said, "you have to go back to where you came from."

"I was brought here to find my suitor."

"You won't ever find your suitor among mortal men." I told her, pleading. "Humans can barely look at you without being blinded. Don't you want someone who could love you for who you were, not just because you're exceedingly beautiful?"

She continued to hover over the rock but it felt like she was observing me.

"Why won't you look at me?" She asked. I was still squinting through my fingers. I chanced a peek over at Dean but he was standing with his back to her, eyes clenched shut and his jacket over his head. I couldn't help but think that was a little much, but I digress.

"You're too bright, I'll hurt my eyes." I told her. The light started to dim and I slowly brought my hands away from my face. My breath caught in my throat; she was _so_ beautiful.

"Wow," I murmured.

"What?" Dean urged.

"Don't look Dean," I warned.

"I'm _not,_ Rose," he snapped back, "but what's going on?"

"Isn't there anyone of your own kind that would be with you?" I asked her, ignoring Dean.

"They're just as beautiful as I am. They don't find me as extraordinary as mere mortals do." I nodded. I could definitely understand that. "But you,"

Me?

"What about me?" I asked.

"You are beautiful for a human woman. I've never seen a woman as beautiful as you." I blushed. Um, wow? This had to be the strangest supernatural encounter. Ever.

"Really?" I asked. I was a little skeptical. Okay, maybe a lot skeptical.

"And you have many men who love you." I narrowed my eyes at her. What?

"I have men who care for me, they're my family." I started to realize that my heart was beating faster than before. I felt like with all this random heart rate spikes I should probably see a doctor.

"No, a man named George loves you,"

George? I racked my brain trying to remember a George. The guy from my prom? He's the only George I remembered, but I only knew him for a few hours.

"A man named Henry loved you," my heart broke.

"Who's George?" I heard Dean ask. "Who the hell is Henry?"

I said ignored Dean and took a deep breath. I was done with being nice. Nice got me nowhere and nice sure as hell wasn't going to make Dean fall in love with me. "You can't stay here anymore. You have to leave."

"You don't want to know the other man who loves you?" I shook my head.

"No!"I yelled. "Leave! I'm ordering you to leave! Go back where you came from and stop killing people! I forbid you to ever come back!"

She started to grow brighter and brighter and even brighter than before and I quickly covered my head, clenching my eyes shut, so I wouldn't get blinded. I heard her scream until it eventually grew softer and softer. I peeked through my arms and saw darkness.

"Rose," Dean said quietly, "she's gone."

I fell onto my ass and let out the breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded. "How did you know what to say to make her leave?"

I shrugged. "I had no clue."

He smirked as he helped me up. "Winging it, I like that."

I chuckled slightly and patted the dirt off my butt. Dean rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat.

"So," he said, awkwardly. "Who are George and Henry?"

I glanced at him, shooting him a questioning look. Why the hell did he care?

"Well, I'm not quite sure about George but," I paused. I didn't know anything about Henry, except for one small fact. I looked down at my shoes and shuffled them in the dirt. "Henry's my father."

...

...

**Ooh! This chapter is full of angst. **

**First off I'd like to thank each and every one of the readers who left me a review since the last chapter. That was an awesome amount to get in only three short days. **

**Secondly, I'd like to wish a happy 20th birthday to Uberlots4Evr. This chapter is my birthday present for you. **

**And thirdly, my present to all my other reviewers is... another chapter today!**


	17. Right?

**Chapter 17**

**March 2002**

**New Castle, Virginia**

**...**

I woke up and sat up on my arms looking around the room groggily. Dean was still sleeping and John was packing his duffel.

"Are you leaving?" I asked quietly. He looked up and gave me a small smile when he saw I was awake.

"Yeah, there's a something up north that I have to deal with right away, but you guys need to finish this job here." I sat all the way up and swung my legs out of bed to make contact with the floor. I rubbed my eyes. "I went over all the research you did and the pieces all fell together perfectly."

"So what is it we're hunting here then?" I asked, wondering what the hell was so important that he had to leave in such a hurry. I knew if I hadn't woken up when I did, he would have left while we slept and left us a post-it note telling us he'd call.

"There's a witch in town," he said. I frowned.

"But all the victims were attacked by a very large animal." He nodded.

"She's summoned a familiar and is having it do all her dirty work." I grabbed my sweatshirt off the floor and put it on. I started the instant coffee maker in the motel room with the coffee that we had bought ourselves. Motels always charged you ridiculous prices for drinking their coffee.

"So if we kill the witch then the murders will stop, right?" I asked.

"Killing the witch first will set the familiar loose. It won't be under anyone's control and it will probably attack the whole town." He told me. He finished packing and zipped up his duffel. "So you should kill the familiar first, then the witch."

I nodded.

"Think you guys can handle that?" I waved my hand at him in a noncommittal manner. "I'm almost positive that the witch is the widow of the first victim."

"Psh, please John." I joked. "Silver bullets to kill the familiar and any damn thing to kill the bitch. We've got this covered."

"All right." He stopped to glance at Dean and I turned away, grabbing the mug of coffee and going to the bathroom.

"I'm taking a shower." I turned back to him. "Be careful, right?"

"You don't need to tell me. The same goes for you." I nodded and continued into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind me. I hoped that he'd say bye to Dean but it's been pretty touch and go whenever we meet up with John.

...

After Dean and I had gotten rid of the deity in Arizona we had to find the person who had summoned her there. It wasn't that hard to figure out when I remembered the strange ranger that had been at the visitor's center. Dean didn't remember seeing her there. When we had gone back there we only saw the ranger that had first greeted us. We asked him about any other rangers but he told us that there wasn't one who fit the description that I gave.

Then we looked a little more into the men who had died. While Dean couldn't see the what every man had in common, I was a little more 'in the know'.

"They're fucking hot, are you kidding me?" Dean shot me an 'I am not amused' look and I just shrugged. "It's true."

We figured that maybe she skipped town so we tried tracking her down. Dean had stupidly left something at the site where we trapped the deity so we had to drive back there to get it only to stumble on the lady trying to bring the deity back. We soon learned why she summoned the deity in the first place.

"Those men never would have given a woman like me a second chance, let alone a first one! Look at me!" We did. Look at her, I mean, and Dean had no problem salting her self-conscious wounds.

"She is pretty fugly," he muttered quietly to me. Of course, it is Dean and no matter how discreet he tries to be he usually ends up whispering so the whole room could hear him. She started going a little psychotic, and I mean that in the 'she-needs-a-straight-jacket-she's-going-to-gouge-out-his-eyeballs-stick-her-in-a-white-padded-room-now-QUICKLY!' sort of way. Needless to say we took care of her and she won't be bringing back any gods or deity's any time soon and neither will any possible vengeful spirit of hers.

...

Yes, I had been a bit… tetchy. But could you blame me? After that almost kiss in the car and learning that Dean had been in love with some girl who had ended up breaking his heart and breaking my heart in the process and not only that! Oh no, there have been other 'incidents' since then. And I know he's only doing it because he's been hurt badly and he needs to keep up his strong bad boy image but seriously I liked it better when he resorted to picking up $2 whores in bars*deep breath in… deep breath out…* I think I deserve to be a bit 'tetchy'.

I finished my shower and cursed to myself when I realized that I didn't bring any clothes with me. I _really_ didn't want to walk into the room with just a towel in case Dean was awake. I sighed and did my make-up first since it was all ready here from the day before.

I needed to get Dean off my mind so thought about the job instead. What John had said made sense. The first victim hadn't been as brutally killed. He had been mauled by their neighbor's giant dog for one reason or another. The dog in question was now missing. So it made sense that the wife would resort to witchcraft to trap the dog and make it do her bidding. And the dog was being influenced by dark magic and it was more of a beast now. It had grown more evil and giant and there was barely anything left of the original dog which is why we needed to use a silver bullet to kill it.

I jumped when there was a knock at the door.

"Are you done in there?" Dean asked loudly. I sighed as I finished my eyeliner. I guess it was now or never. I made sure that my towel was covering everything that it could and I stood up tall and proud. I unlocked the door and swung it open, smirking at Dean's shock.

"All yours," I told him, walking past him and to my duffel bag. I still felt his eyes on me as I started pulling out clothes to wear so I turned back at him. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open ajar a little. "Close your mouth or spiders will lay eggs in there."

His mouth shut and he quickly stalked into the bathroom. I exhaled and continued to smirk. That went well.

John had woken Dean up to tell him he was leaving but told him he'd call sometime. That meant in a few months. I got dressed while Dean was in the shower and I started loading my Smith and Wesson with silver bullets. We didn't have any silver arrows so I couldn't use my crossbow which would have been my first choice of weapon, but that was okay. I'd just have to be sure to make some in the future.

Dean walked out without his shirt on and as I watched him stretch on his way out I knew he was doing it as collateral for earlier. I couldn't deny that he looked damn good without a shirt on. My eyes trailed up the contours of his abs and I bit my lip. I crossed my legs, feeling a little hot and my eyes continued up past his pectorals before I realized he was just standing there. When I looked up at his face he was sporting his famous Dean Winchester cocky grin. He wiggled in eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"Like what you see?" I sighed and cocked my head, looking back at his abs. I bit my lip in thought.

"You're a little fat around the love handles, but yeah I guess so." I lied. He glared at me and looked down at his body.

"I _do not_ have love handles." Don't I know it, but I shrugged anyway, making him continue to doubt his sexiness. I was definitely hot and bothered and I knew I needed a good one night stand sometime in the near future. My last sexual encounter had been quite a while ago and it definitely wasn't helping my stress levels. The last thing I needed during a hunt was too much sexual frustration.

He finally put on his shirt and I had to keep from pouting and being disappointed. He still looked just as amazing with a shirt, but his body was definitely drool worthy.

"So did dad tell you what we were dealing with?" Dean asked, snapping me out of my train of thought.

"Yeah," I said, opening up my laptop, "we are dealing with a witch and her familiar."

"What's a familiar?" Dean asked as he made himself a cup of coffee.

"It's like a pet. It's an animal that belongs solely to their master who is 99% of the time a witch. John thinks that the witch is the widow of the first victim. She used spell work to trap the dog that killed her hubby and the dog has been living off the magic that she feeds it, turning it into a beast."

"Seriously?" He asked. I nodded. "I hate witches."

"Yeah. We have to kill the familiar first, with silver bullets; otherwise we'll set it free to rip up every single person in this town and not just the ones that the witch is commanding it to kill."

"So why does she want to kill all these other people?" He asked, sitting across from me at the table.

"Because they all were on the jury during the trial between the dog's owners and her. She wanted the dog to be euthanized but they all voted that it go to obedience school and let the owner keep him." Dean nodded.

"So now she's setting the dog on every asshole in the jury because of it."

"Exactly."

...

Dean pounded on her door as it started to get dark out and I couldn't help but laugh at his get-up. He was wearing a grey jumpsuit with the name 'Edgar' stitched to the front while he posed as animal control.

"Animal control!" He yelled.

I, on the other hand, wore my professional attire and got to be a U.S. Marshall. I had finally gotten my set of fakes from John for my last birthday. What a great present, huh? It's what every 19 year old dreams of getting. I was lucky that I knew how to do my hair and make-up so people thought I was older than I actually was. Sometimes I managed to get drinks without being carded. John wouldn't change my birth date on my driver's license so if I did get carded then I was screwed, but luckily I had Dean who was always willing to buy me alcohol.

"You kinda look like a dominatrix stripper librarian," Dean said, wiggling his eyebrows. I glared at him.

"Do you think that twitching your eyebrows does anything for me?" I asked him. He rolled his eyes and rang the doorbell.

"I don't think she's here," Dean said when there was no answer. I rolled my eyes and pointed to the empty driveway.

"What gave you that idea Sherlock?" I said.

"I really don't need an attitude Negative Nancy." He snapped, turning and walking back to the car. "So then where the hell do you think she is?"

I looked over the list of the people who had been on the jury. There were twelve people in total and eight of them had been killed all ready. I shrugged.

"Could be at any one of these places. Or anywhere else." I said. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Where would a crazy widow go to summon her familiar to sick them on somebody?"

"Basement," Dean said, getting out of the car again. I quickly followed.

"I didn't see a basement," I said, following him around the side of the house. We pulled our guns out, me out of the purse I had gotten for my professional get-up and Dean had gotten his from the glove compartment. We found the double doors to the basement and pulled them open. I peered into the darkness, trying to see anything down there.

"Stay behind me," Dean said quietly. I nodded. "And actually cover me this time, okay?"

"One time!" I whispered harshly. He shook his head but continued on. So I had been paying more attention to his ass then to the crazy lunatic we were looking for; sue me.

"It only takes one time," he answered. I sighed and paid attention to our surroundings. He was right. But I mean, come _on_! Have you been this close to his ass before? I don't think so. I bumped into him before I realized he had stopped.

"What?" He held his finger up to his lips and I quickly listened. There was definitely growling coming from somewhere. "I wish we had a dog."

"Didn't know you were into bestiality." I glared at the back of his head, not caring that he couldn't see.

"Well, well, well," We turned and I almost groaned.

"What happened to _cover me_?" Dean whispered behind me.

"Maybe I need someone to cover me!" I whispered back. I didn't know why we were whispering, especially since we had been found out, but whatever.

"Did you come here to stop me?" She asked, her voice sickly sweet. "It seems like your plan backfired a little."

The growling got louder and Dean turned.

"Oh, shit." I felt like shaking. This was definitely not how I imagined dying.

"My husband was murdered!" She exclaimed. "I deserve revenge!"

"This isn't revenge," I snapped.

"Be quiet," Dean sighed behind me.

"No?" She asked. "I'm pretty sure that's what this is. I'm not hurting anyone who hasn't hurt me."

"Did you ever think that maybe your husband provoked the dog that killed him?" I asked.

"Oh, please Rosemary, shut your mouth," Dean whined behind me. Yes, sometimes I talked too much too. Okay, I had a lot of faults lately when it came to hunting, but I am still a good hunter. I'd definitely go so far to say that I am one of the best.

"My husband went to get the newspaper and the dog came up behind him!" She cried. "He couldn't defend himself. I watched from the window!"

"So, wait," I said. "Just to clarify,"

"Really?" Dean snapped, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"You watched your husband die, but you didn't go to help him? You didn't call for help?" I ignored Dean. This was starting to sound like a really sketchy story the lady was telling.

"It all happened too fast," She whimpered. I rolled my eyes.

"Uh, okay Sketchy McSketch Pants; and how much money would you have gotten if the jury voted in your favor?" I asked. I was totally done with the bullshit.

She stopped crying and smirked, walking slowly towards me.

"My, you're a smart girl." She said coyly. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I am." I heard Dean sigh in aggravation before he covered my mouth.

"Look, lady, don't listen to this idiot anymore." I licked his hand, trying to get it off of me.

"You probably don't want to lick my hand sweetheart; you don't know what I do with it." I snapped my tongue back into my mouth, cringing. So gross.

"You both are wasting my time," she snapped her fingers and the dog materialized next to her. It was fucking _huge_! It was as big as a bear and it kind of reminded me of the Grimm. Yeah, from Harry Potter, so what? I'm addicted.

"Don't move," Dean said it so quietly that I barely heard it.

"Have fun with your new toys, pup," she smirked and left us, the beast still growling in front of us, blocking our exit.

As soon as she walked up the basement stairs we heard a gunshot. I blanched and turned to look at the dog. The collar that I didn't notice it wearing before broke and fell off and I knew that meant that she had been killed. This dog was loose now.

I pulled out my gun and started shooting it, Dean following my lead. We hit it, but it wouldn't go down.

"Why isn't it dying?" I yelled.

"There's gotta be a hex bag somewhere, keeping it here." Dean said. I nodded. "You go look, I'll keep it busy."

I quickly ran from them, searching everywhere in the basement. The doors opened and somebody started walking down the stairs. I hid behind a shelf so that they wouldn't see me but I peeked around so I could see them. I noticed them holding something in their hand and cringed when I saw it was the hex bag we were looking for. The person turned their back to me and I quickly jumped out, pointing my gun at the back of their head.

"Give me the bag," I ordered, reaching my hand out.

"Rose, it's me." My eyebrows furrowed as they turned around and I backed up a step when I saw it was John. I rummaged through my purse, keeping the gun pointed at him.

"Why haven't you destroyed the bag, John? The dog could be ripping Dean to shreds right now." I finally pulled out my flask. I opened it with one hand and I saw John smirk.

"Dean's fine, don't worry," I almost rolled my eyes. This was definitely _not_ John. Whoever possessed him could have at least tried a little harder. I shook my flask at him and almost grinned when smoke rose off and the demon yelled in pain. And then I remembered that he was a demon and it wasn't a good thing.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically, sounding like Dean from earlier. "You should have tried a little harder."

"I knew I couldn't fool you Rosemary Bennett." I glared at him with my gun pointed between his eyes. How the hell did the demon know my name? He smirked. "I know a lot about you."

I poured more of the holy water on him and whacked him over the head with my gun. He fell and I quickly pulled the bag out of his hand and set it on fire. I didn't notice that I could hear the growling until it stopped. John punched me in the stomach and kicked my gun out of my hand as I doubled over in pain. He pushed me to the ground and I tried shaking more holy water on him but he knocked it out of my grasp.

"Rose!" Dean yelled.

"We have another situation!" I yelled back, kicking John in the chest and crawling away from him and towards my gun. The room started filling with bright, hot, white light and I covered my head until it disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. I quickly turned over and pointed the gun at John, who was now unconscious on the ground. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

Dean ran up behind me.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked, pulling me away.

"It's not John. He's not your dad." I told him, getting up and grabbing my flask. I poured more holy water on John, but this time he didn't sizzle. "What the hell?"

"What are you playing at Rose?" Dean bent down to untie his father.

"No, there was seriously a demon in him Dean. He was the one who killed the witch, he had the hex bag and he wasn't burning it or destroying it. And then there was this white light and when I turned around he was unconscious." Dean sighed and turned to look me in the eyes. "I'm not lying, Dean. Why would I attack John?"

"She's right," John murmured, blinking his eyes. "I was possessed."

He winced as he felt the back of his head.

"That was a damn good hit, Rose," he said. I gave him a small smile.

"Sorry," I said. Dean helped him up.

"So, did the demon possess you when you were trying to leave?" Dean asked. We helped him up the stairs and into the Impala since we didn't see his truck anywhere. Plus he had a bad head injury so it wouldn't have been a good idea to let him drive anyway.

"Yeah," he said. "I was at a gas station when it happened. Little shit just came out of nowhere."

He paused and glanced at me. "Did you exorcise it? I don't remember anything after you hit me."

I shook my head and John looked about ready to yell at me. I braced myself for the inevitable but he sighed and shook his head.

"Where did he leave your truck?" Dean asked as he started up the Impala. John chuckled.

"At the gas station, damn demon."

...

"You're sure you'll be fine to drive?" I asked as we dropped him off next to his truck. He nodded.

"I'll see you guys," he got into the cab and drove off. I checked the time and sighed. It was only a quarter after ten.

"What do you say we get some alcohol and unwind? We sure as hell deserve it." Dean said. I turned to him and smiled.

"That sounds like the most perfect idea right now," I said. We drove to the nearest liquor store and Dean went in to get whatever he decided on. There was a small grocery store that was still open right next door so I went in to get something for us to eat. I always had the worst hangovers after I drank, no matter how little I drank, but eating something usually helped. I got some pretzels and got a few things for breakfast the next morning. Neither of us would want to get on the road until later in the afternoon, even to get something to eat.

When I made it back to the Impala Dean was all ready in with the engine running. I looked in the back seat and felt drunk just looking at everything he had gotten.

"Planning on filling a pool?" I asked. He smirked.

"Just stocking up for the future." I laughed and shook my head. We seemed to be finally getting over our awkward hump. Maybe that meant we could move on. "What did you get in there?"

"Food," I said. He rolled his eyes. I giggled. He hated it when I was vague like that. Well, that was just too damn bad.

"So," Dean said as we walked into the motel, "tequila, vodka, whiskey or rum?"

"Ooh, hard choices," I said, shutting the door behind me. "What kind of rum?"

"Is there anything other than Sailor Jerry's?" He asked sarcastically, pulling it out of the bag. I clapped my hands and ran up to grab it out of his hands. I hugged the handle of rum close to my body.

"My favorite," I cooed, rocking it back and forth. Dean stared at me like I was crazy. "Well don't just stand there! Get some cups."

"Cups? We don't need no stinking cups," I shrugged and quickly popped the cap open, taking a swig from the bottle. It burned as it slid down my throat and I felt goose-bumps rise on my skin.

"Aah, that's the stuff," I said, sighing in content as I handed it to Dean. I kicked off my heels and took off my jacket but stayed in my skirt and blouse. I didn't feel like changing just yet. Dean took a few gulps before he passed it back to me. We both sat down on my bed and he turned on the T.V., purely for noise. "Wanna play a drinking game?"

Dean smirked. "Absolutely."

I pulled out the cards from my duffel and asked which game we should play.

"Strip poker?" He asked. I rolled my eyes. "Or not."

"King's cup?" I suggested.

"There's only two of us." I shrugged. "How about Across the Bridge?"

"Sure,"

"Youngest goes first," Dean said motioning towards me. We were definitely all ready tipsy. I grabbed the bag of pretzels and poured a bunch onto the table for easy access. I popped a pretzel in my mouth and shuffled the cards. I laid out ten cards, face down on the table. Dean flipped the first one over and got an ace.

"Oh, bad luck," I snickered. He drank four gulps out of the handle as I set out four more cards. This time I flipped a card and got a four. I flipped again and got a seven. Three, six, then a jack. I sighed and grabbed the handle and drank a gulp. I added one more card to the pile. Dean flipped a five, two, nine and then a king.

We continued playing long into the night. Pretty soon the handle was more than ¾'s empty and Dean and I had laid down on one of the beds and were just talking.

"Why do you like Oprah?" I asked.

"I don't," he said quickly. I sat up and glared at him.

"Okay, really? Don't even pretend you don't. I always catch you watching it. Why do you think I ask you to always change it back to Oprah? It's not because I like it." I said, laying back down.

"Okay, so I watch Oprah." He said, slurring a little. It's not like I had the best annunciation right now, either. "It's just 'cause she's got a lot to say. And she gives away a lot of free stuff."

I laughed and we started talking about other things.

"Who was the first girl you've had sex with?" I asked him. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"I think her name was Lexie." He shrugged. "I don't know where we were. She was definitely a few years older than I was. I think I was a freshman."

I nodded.

"I'd ask you, but," he paused and grinned. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't even remember his name." I gasped. "Oh my god! I don't think I ever _knew_ his name."

"Seriously?" Dean asked, laughing. I giggled. "Isn't that something all girls remember?"

"Am I really a normal girl?" I asked sarcastically. Then I remembered. "Wait, I think it was Jessie, or James, or Justin… Justin! It was Justin!" I exclaimed.

"Congrats, I'm proud you remembered." I smirked.

"Who did you have your best night with?" I asked. He bit his lip in thought.

"Her name was Lisa," he said, remembering it.

"I think I kind of remember her." I said. "A few years ago, right?"

He nodded.

"You have really nice abs, do you know?" I asked. He laughed again. It was hard for me to stay on one top when I was drunk.

"Yeah, I did. You have a nice rack." He said. I scrunched up my eyebrows. "You're boobs. They are awesome."

I rolled my eyes again.

"Is that all you ever think about when you think of girls?" I asked. He shook his head and looked pretty serious.

"No, definitely not." I stared at him, waiting for him to continue. I don't know if it was the alcohol, but he was looking incredibly hot. And I remembered how horny I had been earlier. Uh-oh.

"Well?" I asked, trying to shift away from how attractive he was.

"They have to smell nice." He added. "And I like longer hair. I'm actually not really into blondes all that much."

I snorted. "That's funny because I only ever see you with blondes."

I frowned when I remembered when I woke up to him and that one girl doing the nasty.

"Really?" He asked as he thought about it. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't know. When I'm looking for a one night stand, it's totally different than when I'm looking at a girl who could be more than that."

"Are you ever going to have more than that?" I asked quietly. He frowned and looked down at me. I licked my lips. He shrugged.

"I don't know. I want to. I really would love to settle down some day. But in this profession? I think I'm gonna have to stick with one nights only." I sighed.

"Yeah, me too." I bit my lip, looking up at him. "What kind of girl would you want to have a relationship with?"

"Definitely someone strong. I mean, like, emotionally and mentally. Although if she was physically strong that would definitely make for some hot, hot sex." I giggled. "Someone smart, and funny. A woman who wouldn't deal with my crap. Girls who I just sleep with take all the mean comments I say, but the woman I'd end up with forever wouldn't put up with it. I'd want her to find herself beautiful and be self confident. But, at the end of the day, I'd want her to let me take care of her."

"She sounds like a great lady." I said. _I wish I was that lady_, I thought. "What about that one girl? The one who dumped you?"

"Cassie? What about her?" Dean asked.

"Was she like that?" I asked. Dean thought about it for a moment before he nodded.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I hope you get her." _I hope I am her_.

"Me too," he said, smiling at me. "What about you?"

"Oh, I don't swing that way." I said, keeping my face straight for all of -.45 seconds. I started giggling again. Why do I giggle so much when I'm drunk?

"Cute," he said sarcastically.

"Well, I don't know." I couldn't tell him that he was my perfect guy. He was definitely the guy I want to end up with. I could definitely be his perfect woman. I just wish he thought so too.

"Rosie?" He asked quietly. I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Yeah Dean?" He cupped my face with his hand and I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes. _Here we go again,_ I thought. I knew I should pull away but I couldn't.

"I really want to do something, but I think it might be a bad idea." He whispered. I shook my head.

"That's okay." I told him.

"Are you sure?" He asked and despite my better judgment, I nodded. I opened my eyes and saw his were closed. For a second I thought he had fallen asleep but then I realized he was leaning forward, towards me. My heart started beating a million beats per second and I quickly met him more than halfway, on my part at least.

His lips were so soft as they melded into mine and he quickly slipped his tongue through our lips. He wrapped his arms around my back and flipped us so he was on top. We continued to make-out as I ran my hands through his hair and I moaned. His hair felt like feathers and I couldn't believe that any of this was happening. I hoped that I'd remember it the next morning, and as I bent my leg a little to brush up against him I hoped that it would go a bit further.

He moaned and ran one hand down my side as the other was rested on the back of my head, pulling my hair gently and definitely very erotically. Chills erupted from his fingertips everywhere he touched as they brushed across my chest and found their way to the buttons on my shirt. He slowly started unbuttoning them and I pulled at his hair gently too.

"Oh, Dean," I sighed as he started to kiss my neck. He discarded my shirt off my shoulders and helped me sit up so I could take it all the way off. He moved his hand down to the zipper of my skirt and I shimmied out of it while unbuttoning his shirt. He stood up at the end of the bed and smiled down at me.

"You're beautiful," he told me. I blushed.

"Do you tell that to every girl you sleep with?" I asked, smiling back at him. He shook his head, very serious.

"I've never told that to anyone." He discarded his two shirts and his pants quickly after that before pouncing on me on the bed. "I've wanted to see you naked since I saw you in that towel."

"Then do it," I dared with an eyebrow raised. He showed off his usual cocky grin and right then I had never seen anything sexier in the world than him. "You have a condom, right?"

He nodded and fished through his pants to pull one out of his wallet. I held back from rolling my eyes at that, I was just glad he had one. Finally he moved his hands to take off the rest of my clothes and I quickly got rid of his boxers.

I had never had louder, crazier, more intense, sexier, more passionate and longer sex with anyone and I doubted I ever would again. We had definitely been going at it for hours and the sun was peeking through the curtains by the time we finally came together for the last time.

We laid down and I was surprised that I was still very drunk. That could have been because of our recent activities but I wasn't sure. I was pretty sure I was just deliriously happy. He wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head against his chest, letting the rise and fall lull me to sleep.

"Hey," he whispered.

"What?" I whispered back.

"I know we're still drunk," I giggled a little. At least it wasn't just me. "And I don't know how we'll feel about this whole thing when we wake up and sober up, but,"

He paused. I poked his stomach lightly to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep. "But what?"

"But this wasn't a mistake." He sighed. "At least not right now."

"I agree," I said, yawning.

Did I mention I was deliriously happy? Because if I wasn't before, I definitely was then.

...

...

**Now, was that worth waiting for, or what? I said all I needed to say in the last chapter, but I can always ask for lots of reviews. So let me know what you thought in one, please. :)**


	18. Push Your Emotions Aside

**Chapter 18**

I groaned and shoved my head deeper into my pillow, trying to block out the sunlight that was invading the motel room. My head felt like a train had run right over it and my stomach was definitely very, very angry with the amount of alcohol I had consumed. I was afraid to get up because I knew I'd have to make a very quick dash to the bathroom and I didn't know if I had the energy to get there or for what would happen once I did. I decided to wait where I was until the need to get up became absolutely necessary.

I tried to remember anything that had happened the night before but the only thing that I could remember was dropping John off at his trunk. Obviously alcohol had been consumed, at least on my part, enough to make me black out for many hours. I felt bile start to irritate my stomach further and knew the time was coming so I rolled out of bed. I felt a cold draft and looked down at my body and gasped.

I was completely naked. I looked over at Dean's bed and saw that it was perfectly made, with an almost empty bottle of Sailor Jerry's and some crumbled pretzels. Only one thing ran through my mind at that moment: Oh. Shit. I turned in horror to the body I had just realized was next to me in bed.

Dean was sleeping peacefully still, stark naked just like me. His body was still in the same position so that it looked like he was holding and invisible woman cuddling next to him. I tried to push away the wave of nausea and dizziness as I contemplated my options. A) I could still mold perfectly into his body and go back to sleep. I could let him wake up first, and let him decide how to respond. B) I could sit and wait until he woke up to decide together what do to. C) I could run away…

I looked at the ground and saw our clothes everywhere and decided that the logical first thing to do is get dressed. I picked up the first article of clothing I could find which was his shirt from last night and I sifted around for my underwear before putting the two things on.

I rubbed my face and looked back at Dean. I didn't know if I should feel ecstatic that I had spent such a wonderful night with Dean (hopefully), depressed that I couldn't remember any of it or scared of what it would do to the two of us. My stomach made the decision for me as the nausea caught up to me and I felt the bile rise up. I ran to the bathroom and passed the pile of used condoms in shock before vomiting into the toilet.

We had had sex _that_ many times? I couldn't even count how many there were as I went by, but there were at least four that I had seen. Vaguely I thanked whatever was out there that we had used protection at least.

"What the fuck?" I heard Dean groan in the other room. I felt bad because I hadn't closed the bathroom door but the guilt escaped me along with another round of vomit. I flushed the toilet and sat back on the floor against the cool tiled wall. Tears were streaming down my face from throwing up. As I rubbed my face I heard the bed squeak and Dean shuffled around before he showed up in the doorway with a pair of sweats on. He stared at me without any expressions on his face. "Rose."

I looked up at him, my heart pounding loudly and quickly in my chest. I knew I looked like a wild mess but this was the moment of truth.

"Did… did we…" he couldn't even say it and I looked down at my knees. I wanted to kill myself. He regretted the whole thing and the only thing I regretted was that I couldn't remember any of it. I didn't even know who had initiated it, but I had a 98% hunch that it had been me. Real tears from anguish fell down my face as I nodded. He frowned and grabbed a hand towel and ran it under cold water from the sink before kneeling down next to me and wiping my face. "It's okay."

I shook my head and tried to push him away. He sat back and watched me. I couldn't decipher the emotion on his face.

"Do you," my voice cracked. I sighed aggravatingly and ran my hands through my hair. "Do you remember any of it?"

He bit his lip in concentration before nodding slightly and blushing. "Uh, yeah, parts of it."

"Did I… do you remember who started it?" I asked. He stared at me for a moment and my heart dropped. He did… o_h God_.

But he shook his head quickly. "No, I don't."

I let the tears erupt from my eyes again and I brought my knees up closer to my chest, curling into a ball. He moved next to me again and wiped the back of my neck with the towel. "Shh, it'll be okay. I promise."

He chuckled. "At least we know we used condoms."

I couldn't help but laugh a little too at that, but it didn't stop the tears or every negative emotion swirling around me.

"Look, uh," he sighed and tilted my chin up so I'd look at him. I wiped the tears away so I could see more clearly. "If you want, we can forget it happened."

I sighed and looked away. It was probably what he wanted. He liked being a free spirit and I didn't want to hold him back. I nodded and he just nodded back.

"You got stuff for breakfast last night, so I'll go fix us something up," he said awkwardly as he got up and left me in the bathroom.

I could definitely say that this was the worst most horrible moment in my entire life. I felt crushed and heartbroken and every other depressing feeling you could ever imagine. The guy who I had fallen head over heels for, would run in front of a bullet for and even sell my soul for, wished that last night hadn't happened. He couldn't be in the same room as me afterwards. I leaned forward and shut the door making sure to lock it.

"Rose?" I heard him call. I was crying so hard that I was starting to hyperventilate so I tried to calm myself down.

"I'm just," my voice was still cracking, "just taking a shower."

"Okay," he was right by the door now so I turned on the water in the shower. "I'll make you coffee when you get out."

...

I washed away everything that had happened the night before in the shower. I scrubbed my body so hard with one of the scratchy motel hand towels that I wouldn't have been surprised if I scrubbed off the first layer of skin. The tears were erased, the tangles were brushed through and I let my heart run down the drain. I toweled off and didn't even care when I remembered that I didn't have clothes in the bathroom with me. I did my make-up light, since I knew we weren't going to be doing anything other than driving today and I wrapped the towel around me as I walked out of the bathroom.

I tried not to shiver as I felt his eyes watch my every move and I paused as I thought I remembered something from the night before. It was too foggy and made me sick to my stomach again so I brushed it aside and grabbed clothes out of my duffel. I went back into the bathroom to change and when I came out Dean was right there to hand me a mug of coffee. I tried to smile graciously as I took a sip.

"Thanks," I said quietly. He nodded and went back to making PopTarts in the toaster. That's what I liked about some motels we stayed at; sometimes they had a small kitchen area. When they did I usually liked to make dinner for us myself but I could only do it if they had appliances too, which not all of them did.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Dean asked as he handed me a cinnamon PopTart. I smiled softly and nodded, biting into the warm but sad excuse for a pastry. He watched me for a second before nodding and turning back around to fish his own pastry out of the toaster. "So it's around eleven now and I was thinking we could just hang out here for another hour until we have to check out and just drive until we find something."

"Sure," I said. "Sounds good."

When Dean finished his breakfast he went to take a shower. I started to feel drowsy again so I popped a couple Tylenols and went lay down on the bed. I was just going to shut my eyes for a moment but I ended up falling back asleep, cuddling to the pillow that smelled the most like Dean.

...

When I woke up, I realized we were moving and I quickly sat up and looked around. I was in the front seat of the Impala and Dean was driving, listening to Metallica really quietly on his stereo. I was still holding the pillow from the motel too. He turned and grinned at me when he noticed that I was awake.

"Good morning sleepy head," he laughed. I rubbed my eyes. "I tried to wake you up, but you seriously wouldn't. You wouldn't even let go of the pillow, which leaves me to believe that you were still probably drunk this morning."

I looked down at my lap in an awkward silence after he said that. There was a purple and orange polka-dotted elephant in the backseat that wouldn't let me forget what I couldn't even remember.

"How long was I out?" I asked finally.

"Well, it's almost three, so you were sleeping for a good few hours. I'm not surprised though, we were up until dawn." My heart dropped a little. Was he trying to torture me?

"Right," I said, pretending to chuckle.

"Well, anyway, while you were sleeping Dad called." I turned to look at him for the first time today. He looked exhausted with dark circles under his eyes, which was another silent reminder. "He found a job for us to do in good ol' Bellville, Ohio."

"Did he have any clue what it is?" I asked. He shook his head.

"There's been multiple deaths by heart attack. Coroners are even saying these people were scared to death." I scrunched my nose up in thought.

"That could be from anything," I said. Dean nodded. My phone started ringing and I looked around for it.

"I put it in your backpack." Dean said. I reached in the back seat and pulled it out, looking at the caller I.D. I almost couldn't believe it. I hit the answer button and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, crossing my fingers. "Sam?"

"Sam?" Dean asked, glancing at me.

"Rosie!" I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you drunk?" I asked. I heard him giggle. "You are so drunk."

I looked at the time and thought about the time difference between Ohio and California.

"I've had a few beers." He said.

"A few?" I heard on his end in the background. "Try like, six."

"Isn't it only noon where you are?" I asked.

"Yeah, whatever, anyway." He cleared his throat. "The reason I'm calling is because I don't want you to get hurt."

Did Sam have a radar on or something?

"What does he want?" Dean asked, a little stiff. I shrugged.

"I won't Sam; you know how careful we are." He sighed frustratingly.

"That's _not_ what I mean." I sighed this time. Sam had never been drunk before, that I knew of, and I definitely didn't like him when he was drunk. And if six beers was enough to get him drunk enough to call me then he was a lightweight and that made me a little sad for Sam.

"What did you mean, then?" I asked.

"I know how much you like him," he said seriously. He almost sounded sober. I sighed and looked out the window as tears clouded my vision again. I hoped that Dean couldn't hear what he was saying. "And I know he's an asshole when it comes to girls and their feelings."

"Aww, Sam, that's sweet." The same voice from before said.

"Jessica, quiet," he said. I smirked when I realized it was a girl he was drinking with. Go Sam. "You're my sister Rose, and you're my best friend. I know I said some horrible things before I left and I really hurt your feelings. But I need you to promise me that you won't let him hurt you. You're too good for him."

"Really?" I asked, a little skeptically.

"Truly," he answered. "You deserve someone better, someone who puts you above everything and wouldn't put you in danger like Dean does. You deserve someone like me."

I bit my lip. If only he knew the half of it. I wondered if he even knew what he was saying.

"All right Sam," I said, mainly so he'd drop the subject.

"You have to _promise_ it. I want to hear that word." I opened my mouth to promise him, even though I knew he'd forget, and I was definitely going to break the promise anyway. I was all ready heartbroken, so it didn't really matter.

"Sam! Time to go!" I heard from the other end.

"Oh, I have to go Rose. Bye." He hung up. I pulled the phone away from my ear and wiped the oil from my face on my jeans before putting the phone in my pocket.

"What did he want?" Dean asked. He was tense and I knew he was still angry with Sam for leaving.

"Nothing, he was just drunk babbling." I told him, faking a laugh and a smile. I was getting pretty good at it. He laughed.

"Sammy drunk, now there's something I'd like to see."

"Maybe," I said quietly. Probably not. Dean finally noticed that I wasn't happy with what Sam had said.

"What did he say to you?" He asked, starting to get angry. I looked up and shook my head.

"Nothing." I told him. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Bullshit, he said something that upset you." I sighed and tried to ease up on my depressed state. I obviously wasn't being as secretive about it as I thought.

"I'm just upset that this was the first time I've heard from him and he had to be drunk to do it." I told him, which was the truth. I had called and left him so many messages, just so that I could see if he was all right and this was the first I had heard from him.

"Do you call him often?" Dean asked softly. I shrugged.

"Every now and then." Why was I lying so much to him? Probably because our friendship would be over the minute he found out what I truly felt about everything.

"And he never answers?" I shook my head. "When was the last time you called him?"

I thought about it; it had only been a day or so ago. I had wanted to stop when I realized he really wasn't going to answer me. I had wanted to stop when I realized he really wanted to forget about us. But he had just told me that I was his sister and his best friend and that I deserved someone like him... So maybe he didn't want to forget about us as much as I thought. Although he had been really drunk when he called so it could have just been the alcohol talking.

"Rose?" Dean asked. I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Like, a month ago." I lied. "I used to call once a week." Dean glanced at me with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why have I never noticed you called him?" He asked.

"Because I do it when you're in the shower or sleeping." I told him. He nodded. "I kind of didn't want you to know that I was calling him."

"Why Rosie?" He asked softly. "He was your best friend."

I shrugged, ready to change the topic and smirked.

"You know this whole car ride has been a chick flick moment?" I asked. He groaned and smacked the steering wheel. I smiled softly as he turned up the music and I rested my head against the window. The conversation had officially been changed.

**Bellville, Ohio**

"Did your dad know that all the murders happened at the same bed and breakfast?" I asked. We had just arrived and we picked up a newspaper and found a diner to eat a late lunch at. I was reading the newspaper while picking at my French fries, not really feeling that hungry.

"No," Dean said, glancing up from his burger, "at least he didn't mention it."

"I guess that's where we're staying then." I said, putting the newspaper down.

"Were the deaths all tourists then?" Dean asked. I skimmed the article to verify and nodded. "Awesome."

"You know, since it's not a motel, you'll have to be on your best behavior." I told him. He frowned.

"Aww, really?" He asked sarcastically. I nodded and he smirked. "Will you spank me if I'm bad?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I'll lock you in a closet."

We finished our food and headed to the B & B. It was definitely really quant. It looked like a honeymoon spot, if anything, and it certainly didn't look haunted. Dean grabbed our duffels and I swung my backpack over my shoulder as we walked inside. The lady at the counter was a very small older lady and I felt bad she had to deal with these unexplained deaths.

"Oh, hello!" She greeted. I guessed she didn't expect many visitors because of everything either. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm Gwen and this is my husband Lance," I put on a huge grin and turned to Dean, lacing my arm through one of his and hugging close to him, "oh, I just love being able to say that."

Dean and I sometimes did this for shits and giggles and to see if we could bargain our way into a better room by pretending to be newly-weds on a road trip. I don't know what inspired me to do it this time but I decided to go with it. It probably was because we would get a really nice room at the Bed & Breakfast. Also most likely because it gave me an excuse to be closer to Dean. I'm pretty pathetic, don't worry, I know.

"It sounds great to hear it," Dean said, playing right along.

"Oh, how sweet," the lady cooed. "My name is Rita and may I just say congratulations to the both of you."

We both turned to smile kindly at her. I had to admit we played this role very well. I'm sure John and Sam would be freaked beyond all hell to see us like this, which gave us a good laugh later on when we thought about it.

"We'd like a room please, whatever is available." I said.

"Do you know how long you're staying?" She asked, writing something down in her log book. I turned to Dean and we pretended to think about it.

"You know, we really don't know yet. We haven't decided yet, anyway." Dean said. Rita smiled but then frowned a moment.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked. She sighed.

"I've had a bit of bad luck lately." She admitted, writing down a few more things.

"Like what?" Dean asked. We knew though, but it was always better to play the ignorant card.

"There have been a few deaths recently," she said slowly. "Nothing too serious, heart attacks each time, but still bad for business. I understand if you'd want to find a different place to stay."

"Nonsense," I told her, pulling out my wallet and handing her my credit card, making sure it had the right name on it. "Heart attacks aren't contagious."

...

We declined her help up to our room (honeymoon suite for the price of a regular) and Dean whistled in approvement when I opened the door. Of course there was only one bed but it was so huge and giant and comfortable looking. I dropped my backpack and took a running leap onto the bed, moaning in comfort as I made contact.

"Why don't we do this more often?" I asked. A second later I felt the bed bounce as Dean plopped down next to me. He made the same noise of content.

"I don't know." He sighed. "Man I kinda wish this had been the room when we had crazy amazing drunk sex the other night."

My breath hitched in my throat. Did he say 'crazy amazing'? Did he remember? Was he just assuming? I calmed down my heart and pretended to laugh.

"I think we were both too sexually frustrated to wait any longer." I said. He laughed too. I was glad we could laugh about it now. Even if they weren't all real laughs. I sat up and looked down at him.

"I have to know," I said, semi serious. He sat up too. "How was it?"

He squinted and rubbed the back of his neck and I wasn't sure if a blush was making its way up his neck or not. Was it that bad?

… or was it that _good_?

"From what I remember?" He asked, glancing up at me before averting his eyes down again. I nodded. "I was definitely impressed."

I grinned.

"Well, of course you were. I am amazing at it." I said. He groaned in frustration.

"I wish you remembered at least a little! It's killing me wondering if you thought I was good." I bit my thumb and pretended to think about it. Of course it was good. It was with _Dean_.

"Well, considering we had a giant pile of used condoms next to the bed, I'd say you were okay." I said. He glared at me.

"_Okay_? That's all you have for me?" He whined. I laughed, vaguely wondering where that elephant had gone to. Maybe it stayed in the Impala…

"Well it obviously wasn't good enough for me to remember."I said, picking at my nails. His mouth fell open in shock as he stared at me. I couldn't help but fall back on the bed and laugh hysterically.

"I cannot believe you just said that to me." His voice reached an octave I hadn't heard from him before and it made me laugh harder. The phone started to ring and I tried to stop laughing as Dean answered.

"Hello?" He smiled. "Dinner sounds good. We'll be down in a bit."

He hung up and turned to glare at me.

"You are so lucky she called, because you are definitely going to pay for what you just said to me." I rolled off the bed and landed on my feet more gracefully than I had predicted which made my exit so much more awesome.

"I can't wait," I said over my shoulder. I licked and bit my lip as I spanked my ass. "Ooh,"

He made a grunting noise and started towards me but I scampered off into the hall and out of our room, away from him.

_Oh my god_. I stopped walking in my own surprise and Dean bumped into me. That was some mega flirting that we were doing.

"Come on, Bennett," Dean said, pushing me a little to keep walking. "I'm hungry."

I brushed it off and rolled my eyes.

"Please, you're always hungry." He chuckled and walked ahead of me, looking back over his shoulder.

"Your point?" He asked. He continued on down the stairs and I tilted my head to the side as my eyes followed his body all the way down. Now I wanted to know what he looked like naked 200% more than I did before. I never did get a good look that time in Arizona. "You coming?"

I snapped out of my day dream and nodded, taking the steps two at a time and meeting him at the bottom. He held his arm out and I remembered the parts we had to play. I smiled and linked my arm through his and we stepped into the dining room. Rita was setting a table for us and Dean asked if she had the time to join us.

"Oh, are you sure?" She looked to me. "I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense," I told her. We needed more information about the deaths and what better way to do it over food?

She agreed and went to bring out our food and she set a seat for herself as we started serving ourselves.

"Would you like some wine?" She asked. "On the house."

I looked to Dean and he shrugged. Was that the elephant behind Dean, shaking it's trunk at me in a condescending manner? I couldn't tell, so I cleared my throat and smiled at her.

"One glass couldn't hurt," I said. She went to get some from a cabinet and poured each of us a glass before she finally sat and joined us.

"Ooh, haven't had a seat all day." She chuckled.

"Do you run this place by yourself?" Dean asked. She nodded.

"After my Shaun passed away I haven't had much help. My son comes around every now and then, but he has a family now so I couldn't impose him."

"When did your husband pass?" I asked kindly. He could be the reason for everything. "And can I ask why?"

"Oh, he passed a few months ago. He was the second one to die of a heart attack in the house." It wasn't the husband then. "To be honest, I heard some of the coroners talking whenever they came after another death, and what they said made me think they don't really know what they all died from."

"What did they say?" I asked. I realized none of us were eating so I took a sip of wine.

"They say that all the victims were scared to death. Their hair was pure white at the roots, even though they were all too young to be going grey. Except for Shaun of course." I looked at Dean. Interesting. This was definitely something to research later tonight.

...

...

**:) I hope no one hates me because of what I did. Have any of you drunk almost an entire handle of Sailor Jerry's and remembered what happened when you wake up? I think not. **

**I have a couple of things to say before I leave you all to celebrate Mother's Day. First off, thank you for the amazing amount of reviews. I would like the same turn out of reviews for this chapter as well, please. **

**Secondly, I have incentive for those who review this chapter. Each person who reviews this chapter by this Wednesday will have their user name put into a hat. I will draw one name and that lucky person will have a guest appearance in one of the upcoming chapters. In order to be eligible to win, you MUST, obviously, leave a review for this chapter and you must leave it before 8:00pm PST on Wednesday the 12th. I will announce the winner in the next chapter.**

**Good luck :)**


	19. Dealing with Fear

**Chapter 19**

We changed the topic after that and finished our dinner.

"We were wondering if you could show us around your inn tomorrow, if you have time." Dean said after we stood to leave.

"Oh, well, I don't know how much you'd get out of a tour but you're more than likely to look around by yourself." She told us, clearing our plates. "Have a nice night."

We smiled and went back up to our room to start our research. Dean went through the books we had and through my journals and I tried to find a match on the internet with what Rita had told us.

There was only one thing that stuck through my mind as to what it could be, but I knew how unlikely it was and I knew that Dean would shoot it down immediately. However, the more I read about it, the more the signs matched up. The white hair, being scared so bad that you have a heart attack? I hated to admit how excited I was to figure out if I was right.

I kept reading. There were a few more things that I needed to ask Rita to be sure so I closed my laptop and started to leave the room to go back downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked, keeping his eyes on the book he was reading. I smirked.

"To get a glass of milk." Dean looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"You don't drink milk." I shrugged. He narrowed his eyes at me. "Is that some sort of euphemism that you kids are using these days?"

"Just suddenly felt like some milk, that's all. Be right back." I closed the door behind me and made my way downstairs, hoping she was still awake. It wasn't that late, but she could have decided to go to bed early, especially if we were the only ones staying there.

"Rita?" I called. I heard something fall behind me but when I turned around nothing was there. I headed into the kitchen, figuring she wouldn't mind if I helped myself. I opened the fridge and crinkled my nose in disgust when I smelled something that had gone really bad. I grabbed the milk container and opened it, sniffing what was inside.

I gagged and quickly put the top back on and checked the date. It wasn't supposed to go bad for at least five days. I covered my nose and mouth as I poured it down the sink, trying not to vomit at the smell. Sour milk had been one of the signs of this thing's presence.

"Where has my watch gone?" I heard Rita in the other room and she came into the kitchen. She covered her nose and looked over at me. "What happened?"

"I thought it would be all right to help myself to a glass of milk. It helps me sleep," I said and she nodded understandingly. "But it had gone sour."

"That's strange. I just bought that milk a few days ago. That's the third time that has happened. I should really talk to the grocer about this." I agreed softly and tried to hide that I was beginning to get even more than a little excited. I was so right about this.

"Did you say you lost your watch?" I asked nonchalantly as I rinsed out the bottle and threw it away. She nodded.

"Yes. I had just set it down for a minute while I got ready for bed. Or I thought I had, anyway." She sighed and gave me a sad smile. "This old brain isn't what it used to be."

I smiled kindly back.

"I'm sure you'll find it." Items' disappearing was another sign. "I think Lance is wondering where I am."

"Of course sweetie. I'm sorry about the milk." I shrugged and bid her good night before making my way back upstairs and to our room.

"Where's your milk?" Dean asked, looking up from the book. I grinned.

"It went sour." He stared at me like I was crazy.

"And you're happy about that?" He asked. I shrugged with a smile.

"Things are also disappearing." He shook his head at me.

"I don't know what game you're playing, but it's kinda creeping me out, Bennett. Now talk," he told me.

"It's a boggart!" I exclaimed while jumping onto the bed next to him. He started laughing hysterically and I glared at him. "I'm serious." I whined, slamming my fist into the comforter. It didn't quite make the effect that I was hoping it would and Dean started laughing harder.

"I know," he said, "that's what makes it funny."

"No, listen. Milk going sour that shouldn't go bad for another week? Things disappearing when you just put them down? People being scared to death? Their hair is turning white!" Dean calmed down and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair as he took a moment to think about it.

"Yeah, okay, everything else fits, but the only boggarts that have ever been recorded to scare people was in Harry Potter and _that_ is why you want it to be a boggart so bad." He accused. I shook my head. Not entirely!

"That is not true! There are so many different variations of boggarts, one of which is the bogeyman! We've all ready dealt with a bogeyman, didn't you read my journal? The bogeyman was planting nightmares in people that showed them their worst fear happening over and over again until they died of fright." He was quiet and I could tell he was mulling it over.

"Okay, say that it is a boggart _hypothetically_," he stressed. I rolled my eyes. "How would we find it? Don't they stay in dark, cold places? And they're invisible to the naked eye. And how would we get rid of it? We can't just wave a stick and say 'Riddikulus!'"

I giggled when he said it.

"What?" He asked, fighting a small smile on his lips.

"You are such a geek. You know the spell?" He groaned.

"Please, you're the one who thinks this is what it is! I'm just playing along to keep you happy."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I said. "So what do _you_ think it is?"

He cleared his throat and averted his eyes down to his book. He covered his mouth for a moment and mumbled something that I could quite catch.

"What was that?" I asked sarcastically, putting my hand up to cup my ear. "You don't know?"

"Shut up and put on some quieter shoes." He told me, getting up from the bed and putting his shoes back on. "We're doing some investigating."

We each grabbed a flashlight and made sure that Rita was asleep in her room before we started snooping around the inn.

"So what I don't understand is, if this is a boggart anyway, if these people are dying from fright it can't be from a dream. They all happened during the day." Dean said quietly.

"Well like I said before, there are so many different variants of boggarts. The bogeyman is just one of them. The one from Harry Potter lived in a wardrobe and came out when they opened it. It changed into the thing that scares the closest person the most." I whispered back. Dean stopped.

"Why are we searching for this in the middle of the night when we don't even 100% know what this is or how to kill it?" Dean asked. I shrugged.

"It's not really the first time we've gone into a situation without any real hard evidence. I find myself wondering time and time again why the hell we're investigating some supposed haunted place in the middle of the night when we're the most vulnerable." I said. Dean stared at me for a moment and sighed. The light from his flashlight danced across the wall and my heart jumped when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I turned and flashed my flashlight in the vicinity that I had seen whatever it was.

"What?" He asked, shining his flashlight all around. I shook my head and turned back to him. Nothing was there. I tried to calm myself but I was kind of freaking out.

"Nothing, I just thought I saw something." I took a deep breath. "Okay, look. Let's go upstairs and back to the room with the light on. We have to do some serious thinking."

Dean nodded and we quickly made our way back to our room. I grabbed my pajamas, figuring we were done searching for the night and went into the bathroom to change. I put on my boxers and an old P.E. shirt from one of the high schools we had gone to. This one was orange with purple letters that said 'Coolidge High P.E.'. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed how white my face was. I splashed warm water on my face and looked back into the mirror while I brushed my teeth.

I thought I had seen my mother.

I finished up in the bathroom and put my dirty clothes in my duffel. I only had one more set of clean clothes and then I had to do laundry. I was not okay with wearing underwear for more than one day. Bras were okay, but panties were totally different. I didn't see how boys could do it with their underwear.

There wasn't a television in the room so he was in bed all ready reading, surprisingly. It was probably because he still didn't know the password to my computer. Good ol' Phil Collins. I crawled into bed and sighed.

It hadn't just been my mother. She had black eyes.

"I really think it's a boggart," I said. Dean closed his book and dropped it gently on the floor as he sighed.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to agree with you." He turned off the light and I quickly fell asleep.

...

I was in the motel room from 14 years ago. I was standing in the middle, looking around. Everything was the same except I wasn't five. I was still 19. The door opened from behind me and I gasped when my mom walked through the door with the backpack that she always carried with her. She was wearing the same clothes and she looked exactly the same as the last time I had ever seen her.

"Hey sweetie, did you finish your homework?" She asked. I nodded, not knowing what else to do. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Pack up the truck, okay? We're gonna leave as soon as I finish."

She closed the bathroom door behind her and I snapped out of my reverie. I grabbed the duffels and put them where I remembered they went. I got into the passenger seat and waited for her to come out. When she did we drove until we were in the middle of a deserted field. She pulled over to the side of the street but kept the car running.

"What are we doing here?" I asked as I turned to her. I gasped when she turned to look at me. Her eyes were black. I tried to get out of the car but she locked the doors and I was too frantic to unlock them. "Mom, don't do this."

"I'm not your mommy." She smirked. I cried and kept trying to open the door.

...

"Rose!" I opened my eyes and saw Dean shaking me. He looked a little white himself and I quickly sat up and rubbed my face. I felt a couple tears in my eyes but it didn't surprise me. I sat up and brushed my hair out of my face.

"This is definitely a boggart Dean," I told him, brushing past him to get my last set of clean clothes. I picked everything up except my underwear and I turned to look everywhere. I couldn't find my clean underwear anywhere and cursed.

"I know," he said. I stopped looking for my underwear and glanced up at him. I wondered…

"Did you," I asked him hesitantly and he nodded. We both had nightmares of our worst fears. I groaned and started taking things out of my bag so I could find my pair of underwear. Ever since John took me to visit my mom's grave and told me what he did I had so many nightmares of the same thing. I was digging through both my duffels but I stopped when I realized what happened to my underwear and looked up at Dean.

"What?" He asked.

"That little shit stole my underwear!" I cried. Dean couldn't help but laugh. I picked up whatever was closest, which happened to be a bottle of lotion, and threw it at him. He caught it and smirked.

"Want me to rub your body?" He asked. I glared at him and shoved all my dirty clothes and things back in my duffel's, except for what I was going to wear and the pair of underwear I had worn the day before. I grabbed my hair dryer too and made my way into the bathroom. I'd just wash a pair myself. It's not like I haven't had to do it before.

I came out of the bathroom when I was finished and was walking a little awkwardly because my underwear was still the littlest bit damp. Dean was finished getting dressed and he was flipping vaguely through my journal.

"So," I asked slowly, "what did you dream?"

He glanced at me but shook his head. I doubted that he would tell me, but I was still curious and I had to try. "You?" He asked.

I sighed.

"My mom." He looked at me with an eyebrow cocked. "She was a demon."

His eyes opened a little wider for a second and nodded before we decided to make our way downstairs for breakfast. Rita was checking in two women and I was glad to see she had more people staying.

"Good morning Gwen, Lance." She said. "Breakfast is all set up in the dining room."

We waved and continued in, helping ourselves and sitting at the table closest to the buffet so that Dean wouldn't have to walk far for seconds. I'm pretty sure breakfast was his favorite kind of food but I didn't blame him; breakfast was totally the best.

We found out that Rita was going to be spending most of the day in the garden out back so we decided to take this time to look around. We started downstairs and made sure that the two women, Erika and Nancy, didn't run into us or the other way around.

It was around noon when we heard a scream from upstairs. Dean and I quickly ran to where we came from and saw Erika leaning over Nancy's body. Dean and I glanced at each other as Rita came up finally and saw what happened.

"Oh, dear," she gasped. I ran into their open room and used the phone to call for an ambulance. Dean and I quickly went back to our room.

"We've got to get that thing." I said quickly as soon as he shut the door behind us. "We have to get it now."

Dean exhaled loudly and nodded. He went downstairs to grab the duffel full of weapons from the Impala and I quickly tried to find anything online that might be useful information. I even tried calling John on the off chance that he might answer to see if he had any ideas but of course he didn't answer. I read the entry in my journal about the bogeyman and read what we used to kill it. There was a knock on the door and I went to open it. Rita was standing there with money in her hand and tears in her eyes.

"I have your money back, I saw your husband packing your car." I shook my head and pushed her hand back.

"We're not leaving. We're staying for at least another night, I just ran out of clean clothes," I told her. Her eyes opened wide in surprise and she smiled before telling me where I could do my laundry in the basement.

The basement! Cold and dark and the perfect hiding place for a boggart. I nodded and thanked her as Dean came up with our weapon bag. Rita told us that she had run out of supplies and needed more groceries and she had to go to the store since her delivery boy couldn't come. She told us she'd be back in a few hours and that Erika had left with Nancy's body. We had the entire house to ourselves.

This was the perfect time then to get rid of that thing, once and for all. Dean locked our door even though we were the only ones in the inn right then as he pulled out several different guns. He loaded one with silver bullets, one with rock salt, and one with iron as well as with regular bullets. He handed me the one with regular bullets and the rock salt and kept the other two for himself.

There was nothing I could find online or in my journal. I didn't understand what I had written in the bogeyman entry. I had still been young and I kept things a little too vague sometimes. I cursed my younger slightly lazy self and we grabbed flashlights. The boggart wouldn't come out unless it was dark so we'd have to keep the lights off.

Dean went down first and I followed closely behind. There was a pile of forgotten stuff in the corner including a few photos, some books, a mirror and a lamp. I saw something out of the corner of my eye on one side and I heard something fall off a shelf in the other direction. I pointed my flashlight to see what had fallen and heard a gunshot and someone scream.

"Dean?" I called, turning around. I saw him standing with his back to me, looking at something that I couldn't quite see. I walked up to him quickly and blanched at what I saw. "Oh my god."

It was me.

...

...

**That was an amazing amount of reviews that I got. It's making me think that I should do the review-raffle for a guest appearance more often. Now, before I announce who gets the lucky spot of the first guest appearance, I'd like to just say that if I had the time and energy that I'd write in a special character for each and every reviewer. However, with finals and my attention span and the other projects that I'm working on I really just don't have the amazing powers to do such a thing.**

**Now, without any further ado *drum roll* Congratulations amy marie 45! Go ahead and send me an email (my address is on my profile) and we'll start working on your character :)**

**So please, please, please leave me some more amazing reviews. Who knows; maybe I'll do a secret guest appearance raffle. But I'll tell you right now that you'll only be eligible if you leave a review. **

**Hope you all have an awesome weekend and I'll see you all on Sunday! I'll be expecting an email from you, amy marie 45, soon. **

**3 Erin**

**P.S. I think the next chapter might be what you all have been waiting for... but it's possible I'm mistaken.**


	20. Fear Strikes a Spark

**Chapter 20**

I was standing there, staring back at us in horror with a gunshot wound in my abdomen. My hands were holding it, trying to make the bleeding stop. But the bleeding wasn't stopping.

"Dean," I pulled his arm. This was his worst fear? Me dying? He turned away from the boggart me and I saw tears in his eyes. He gave me a helpless look and I felt just as lost as him. He glanced at something behind me.

"Rosie," he quickly wiped his eyes and held up his gun, pointing it at whatever he saw. I turned and saw my mom with demon eyes. I looked behind Dean and saw that his worst fear wasn't there anymore. The boggart had turned into mine. Dean started shooting his two guns but she just smirked and kept watching me. I was frozen with fear. She was going to kill me.

I felt Dean pull out my two guns and he pushed me behind him.

"Rosie," she taunted me and I looked around for something to help. How had we killed the bogeyman? Dean fired off the two guns that I had but none of the bullets worked. I heard him curse and turned my head to see the boggart had changed back into me only I was completely dead this time.

We were fighting with fear. How were we supposed to beat fear? An idea struck me and I ran towards the corner with the pile of junk and pulled out the mirror. I ran in front of Dean and held up the reflection to the boggart. Dean wrapped his arms around me and hid his head in the crook of my neck as we heard the boggart shrieking in pain and agony. There was a loud pop and a big gust of air knocked us back.

Dean tripped and fell back taking me down with him. I groaned as my head hit the ground. I let go of the mirror, or at least what was left of it since it shattered when the boggart… popped? The best way I could describe what had just happened would be to call it spontaneous combustion.

"What did you do?" Dean asked quietly. I wiped my eyes and went through my erratic thought process.

"The only way to fight fear is with fear itself." I recited. Dean chuckled.

"And you knew that would work?" He asked. I shook my head and gave him an innocent look.

"No… I just kinda thought it was worth a try." I admitted. He rolled his eyes.

I sat up and he got up, helping me up after. I rubbed my right shoulder, sore from the impact of the fall and we made our way back up to our room. I had to fight with myself not to bring up what went on in the basement with him. I was dying to ask him what was up with his worst fear but I knew he'd make a joke and brush it off, saying something like he was mostly afraid that I'd do something stupid and end up killing myself.

Dean shut the door behind him and I started collecting our things. I figured that since we had gotten rid of the boggart that we would leave as soon as Rita got back. He didn't move from the doorway and I felt him watching my every move. I finally looked up and stared right back.

"You aren't going to say anything?" He asked. If I didn't know any better I'd be sure that he was looking at me with his 'take me to bed' eyes that I'd only ever seen when he wanted a one-night stand. I shook my head and felt my throat constricting.

"No," I said quietly. My nerves were freaking out with what felt like electricity running through me and it was making me shake a little. I turned back to my duffel and zipped it up. I felt him come up behind me and he gently grabbed my arms. His body heat was rolling off him in waves and he felt like a space heater and his scent of leather and nutmeg invaded my senses. I felt my knees going weak and I didn't understand what was going on. This wasn't anywhere near normal.

…but I was excited at the same time. Until then I had only dreamt of this kind of contact with Dean.

"You know what you saw." He said quietly with his lips brushing against my ear. More electric jolts started running through me, starting where his hands were holding me. "Don't you want to know why?"

"I didn't want to pry," I said, my voice shaking like crazy. He chuckled.

"When do you not pry?" He asked. I smiled softly and turned around to face him, suddenly only then realizing just how close we were.

"Why?" I asked, not knowing where I got this sudden boost of confidence. I stopped questioning it and decided to roll with it.

"I lied to you." He said. I stared at him, confused. "I remember everything from that night. I was the one who started it and I don't regret it. Any of it."

My breath caught in my throat. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I want you to be with me. I've never liked any girl as much as you. Nobody knows me better than you and nobody could ever understand me as much as you do." He told me seriously.

"I never understand you," I told him honestly.

"You understand me much more than you think." He sighed and stared at me intensely. "Remember that deity in Arizona?"

I nodded.

"Remember what she told you? Those men who loved you: your father, that kid George, whoever the hell he is, and one other person who you didn't wait to hear." He told me.

I shook my head and looked away trying to blink back tears. I didn't want to believe it; it was all too good to be true. He lifted my chin.

"I love you."

...

I woke up and saw Dean hovering over me with nothing but worry on his face. I looked around me, trying to figure out what had happened and where I was. We were still in the basement.

"Are you okay?" He asked letting out a breath of relief. "I thought you were going to die."

"What happened?" I asked. The mirror had broken all over me. I felt like vomiting as I recalled my vivid dream. It had all been real until we fell. I started to cry and I reached up to cover my face. Why had that happened? Was it some sort of sick residual energy from the boggart? I didn't want to think about it because it was really making the bile start to rise in my throat. Why me? I'd suffered my own personal torture living in such close quarters with Dean 24/7 with these feelings that were so hard to contain and now this?

He cleared his throat. "You flashed the mirror in front of the thing and it basically blew up. You flew into the wall and knocked your head on the ground and the mirror shattered all over you." He took a deep breath and let it out.

"So, wait, what did it look like?" I asked miserably, wondering if it really had shown me dying for Dean. I swallowed to hold everything in my stomach.

"You had gotten shot," He said slowly. My throat constricted.

"Why?" I asked, not wanting to get hopeful. I could feel it rising again. I knew what I wanted him to say. I wanted him to say it was because his worst fear was losing me, that he loved me and couldn't fathom a life without me. I wanted him to say anything but what he did say.

"Because then I would have lost everyone." He said. I rolled over onto my knees as a wave of nausea hit me and vomited on the ground. It was all fake; all of it. But why had it happened? Did I really just dream that while I had been unconscious? Had the boggart somehow left some energy in me to make me dream that? Whatever had happened, Dean didn't really love me. And it was the last time that I could handle the bitter truth being thrown in my face. I didn't know if I could just jump right back into ignoring that elephant again; it kept getting bigger.

I stood up but my legs felt like jelly. I didn't let Dean help me as I started to walk up the stairs. He started to follow.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked. I turned around but couldn't even manage to look him in the eyes. I had to leave. I couldn't stand any of this anymore. I couldn't sit around while I was hopelessly in love with Dean and he just didn't want to be alone.

"I'm leaving." I said. He nodded and started to follow, not really understanding what I meant. I shook my head. "I need to go off on my own for a while."

He stopped and stared at me like I was crazy.

"Why?" He asked quickly. He was starting to get angry. I shook my head.

"You don't want to know why." I turned and started going up to our room with him following close behind. I grabbed everything I could find and put all my things into my duffels. I'd call Ellen Harvelle as soon as I got on a train and tell her I was heading over to the Roadhouse. I hadn't seen her since before my mom died but I knew she was still around and still had the bar. John had never talked about her which led me to believe that he didn't know her. In either case, I knew that Dean didn't know about her so he wouldn't be able to find me if I ditched my cell phone. "It's not forever, just for a little while."

I took my weapons and shoved them in my duffel, wiping my eyes and looking around to make sure I had everything.

"You can't leave me Rose, not after everything." He argued, glaring at me. He shut the door and stood in front of it.

"That won't stop me Dean." I told him. There was a tree outside the window that I could easily climb down.

"Just tell me why," he pleaded. I wiped my eyes again and grabbed my backpack, swinging it over my shoulder. I still felt sick to my stomach and I didn't really want to have to climb out the window and down the tree, but I would if I absolutely had to. "Was what you saw so horrible? Is it because of the other night?"

"It's because of everything," I told him exasperatingly. I was so tired from everything. "Because of down there, because of that night that I don't remember but have a sneaking suspicion that you do, because of Sam and John and our lives. I just need a break."

"We don't get breaks," Dean said, grabbing my arm. I just stared at him. "Not in our line of business. You know that. I thought that you wanted to stay! That's why you didn't go with Sam, because you wanted to stay."

I nodded.

"I did, I just," I paused and exhaled. "I can't stop my feelings anymore. It's getting too hard to pay attention to the job when my emotions are all over the place."

"I can help," he said, "let me help with it."

"You're part of the problem." I whispered. He dropped my arm and stepped back. My heart broke and I started to cry again.

"How?" He asked. I laughed bitterly.

"Really? Don't you remember what Sam said before he left? I'm hopelessly in love with you!" I yelled. I reached up to my neck and pulled out the necklace he had given me from under my shirt. "I have been since you gave me this necklace, maybe even before that. Everything Sam had said was true and I should have left with him!" I stormed past him with my things and I heard him follow quickly after.

"That's okay!" He exclaimed. "It's fine."

"It's not fine, Dean. It's not fine at all." I told him. I walked out to the road and held out my thumb, hoping to hitch a ride to a bus or train station. He pushed my arm down and pulled me back.

"Why not?" He asked angrily. I pulled my arm out of his grasp and crossed them across my chest, glaring back at him.

"Do you remember that night, Dean?" I asked. "Tell me the truth."

He stared at me helplessly for a moment but he sighed. "Yeah. I remember it all."

"That's why it's not fine." I told him. "Because, what was one meaningless fuck to you was a night that I've dreamt about for years! Because you remember everything and it was just another night with some girl to you. It would have been the best night of my life, hands down, if I could even just remember one little bit of it!"

"My worst fear is you leaving me!" He seethed. His face was so close to mine that I had to close my eyes and turn my head. "The second you find that out, you decide to leave me? How cruel are you?"

"I'm fucking in love with you!" I screamed, dropping my things. "I can't handle being two feet away from you and not being _with_ you! Don't you understand? I can't take it anymore!"

"Rose, what do you think happened that night?" Dean asked quietly, letting go of me. I shook my head. "Because I honestly remember every single thing that happened, so tell me what you think."

I shook my head again and wrapped my arms around myself, trying to find some comfort anywhere. He sighed and ran his hand over his face.

"All right, look," he was aggravated but he didn't sound as angry. He shook his head. "I… I don't want you to leave, but if you promise it will only be for a little while I'll take you to the train station myself."

I shook my head. "It's no good Dean, you'll just convince me to stay. I don't want to stay if there's nothing for me."

"You need to know the truth." He pleaded. "I want you to know the truth before you leave."

I stared at him, waiting. The truth about what? "Well?"

Out of nowhere he reached forward, cupping my face with both his hands. He pulled me close and pressed his lips against mine just as quickly. I had no time to react or think or even respond to the most mind-blowing kiss I'd ever had before he pulled away slightly.

"There's never been anyone _but_ you. I've always cared for you more than you've realized. I've bent over backwards to make sure that you were happy, always." He started pacing, looking up at me every few seconds to make sure I was hearing what he was saying. "I never did anything about it because you were too young. I never did anything because Sam loved you, too."

"What?" I cried. I bent over, feeling sick to my stomach again. "Oh, god."

"See?" He said. "I never thought we could be anything because of our lives and our jobs and that night I was planning on telling you everything! But we drank too much and instead I…" he swallowed hard. I could tell he was having problems spilling everything out in the open like this.

Did he think that I didn't want anything to happen?

"I took advantage of you," he whispered. I shook my head. "It's true. I still knew what I was doing, I will still conscious of my actions, but you weren't and I took advantage of that."

"You didn't," I paused and walked in front of him. I shook my head and looked him straight in the eye. "You didn't do _anything_ wrong."

"I don't want you to leave me." He said quietly. I'd never heard him sound more depressed.

I thought back to when Sam left and I had whispered almost the same thing. Sam didn't hear me then, but I heard Dean loud and clear. I put my hands on either side of his face and pulled it towards mine, kissing him with all the passion I could give him and unlike me he was quick to respond. I don't know how long we stood there kissing but somehow in a haze we had maneuvered my bags to the Impala and he carried me back up to the room and laid me down on the bed.

He hovered over me and searched my eyes. "This is what you want?"

I nodded and pulled his face back down to mine. "This is exactly what I want."

...

I woke up with a start when I heard a phone ringing. I rubbed my eyes and looking around. Dean was sitting on the edge of the bed with his bare back to me since he answered the phone and he was talking softly. He thought I was still asleep. I smiled when I remembered what had happened and I looked at the clock on the wall to see the time. It was almost six.

"Hey," I heard Dean say. I turned my head and watched him get back under the covers and he pulled me closer to him. My heart skipped a beat and I couldn't help but feel how perfect this moment was. It was also probably because neither of us was clothed and I just realized how amazing the feeling of that was. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's okay," I said, resting my head against him. He kissed the top of my head and ran his hand through my hair while his other arm was wrapped tightly around me. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world to me. "Who was that?"

"It was Rita. I told her that we were getting ready to leave." I nodded and started to get up out of bed. "Where are you going?"

I looked up at him confused. "Are we leaving?" He shook his head.

"We need to talk first." I sat up and realized again that we were both naked. Dean noticed as well and he reached down on the ground and handed me the t-shirt he had been wearing. I smiled in thanks as I pulled it on. "I meant everything I said."

"I know," I said, smiling softly. "I did too."

"Even about leaving?" He asked quietly. I frowned a little and played with the edge of the sheet. Dean covered my hands with one of his and used his other to tilt my face back towards his. It was funny how much had changed within just a few hours.

"I meant it when I said it," I said, not wanting to leave anymore after what had happened, "but it depends on where we go from here."

"I don't want you to leave, ever, and before I thought that the only way to make you stay was to just be normal but now I know, or at least hope, that neither of us wants just that." He said. I nodded, hoping I understood him correctly since he had been babbling.

"I don't want to be with you, though, if you're only doing it so I'll stay." He shook his head.

"I'm doing it, because I want it." He smirked. "And because I love the noises you make in bed."

I giggled and he gently pushed me back on the bed, hovering over me. He kissed my cheeks and then my forehead and my nose before he finally kissed my lips. I sighed when he pulled away.

"I'm sorry I almost left." I said. He shook his head.

"It's okay, because now you are my girlfriend." His famous Dean Winchester grin found its way onto his face. It made me smile because I loved it so much. His girlfriend. I liked the sound of that. "Oh man, this is weird."

I laughed. "Dean Winchester with a girlfriend. Who would have thought?"

"I didn't think it would ever happen," he said, "especially because the only girl who could ever fit that description is you." He paused and scrunched up his face. "Holy shit. I think I just sounded like those whiny, emotional, girly-men that I make fun of."

I laughed. "Not to burst your hardcore bubble or anything but you've been sounding like that a lot lately."

"I need to get my manhood back." He said. I smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think it's your manhood that's missing," I said, coyly. He looked past me in thought before he smirked back and nodded.

"Yeah, you're right." He said, ducking his head and kissing my neck. My thoughts were running around a mile a minute and I froze with terror when I thought about one particular topic.

"What are we going to tell your dad?" I asked, suddenly serious at the thought. John would not like this at all. He'd tell us that it would make us weak during the job. Dean groaned when he thought about it too.

"Do we have to?" I nodded.

"Don't you want him to know?" I asked, a little hurt that he was so reluctant about it.

"Of course I do, but he's just going to bring us down. He'll tell us some stupid shit about losing sight of the job and being too worried about the other that we'll get hurt." I nodded. I sighed and pushed him off, kissing him quickly on the lips.

"We should go," I said, getting off the bed and looking for our discarded clothes. "We told her that we were checking out."

He got up too and I stole a glance at him when he started walking around for his clothes. I must have been staring longer than I intended because when I looked up he was smirking at me.

"Like what you see?" He asked. I blushed and ignored him, still looking for my clothes.

**...**

**...**

**What'd you guys think? I took a couple liberties here and I know Dean seems a little out-of-character but it's how I imagine he would react in this kind of situation.**

**I hope it was everything you all dreamed of, because I can tell you right now it's exactly what Rose imagined. And then some, if you get what I'm sayin' ;) eh, eh? Haha, anyway, sorry I'm a bit late with the update today. I was super busy eating lots of delicious sushi (half priced happy hour! What sushi lover could say no? Not this one, I'll tell ya) and I got to see one of my very, very good friends that I haven't seen in months and blah, blah you guys probably don't care and are just happy I updated. Although, I do want to brag and say that I got a subscription to the Dr. Who Magazine (any other DW fans out there?) and I found a bookstore that sells the Supernatural books. I'm such a dork.**

**Anywho, I'll be back Wednesday for the thrilling continuation of Life of a Hunter and in the meantime I'd like lots of reviews from you all :)**

**love, Erin **


	21. Spark Starts a Fire

**Chapter 21**

**Rochester Hills, Michigan**

**2 Days Later**

I woke up when a slit of sun streamed through a crack in the curtains and landed across my face. I groaned and tried to turn over but ran into Dean. My heart jumped for a moment and I mentally laughed at myself. I still wasn't completely used to my new relationship (!) with Dean and I was always afraid that I would wake up suddenly only to learn that all of this had been a dream.

But no, Dean and I really did have that huge, public, shouting match in front of that little B&B in Bellville, Ohio. Every time I remember that it really all happened I can't even be totally embarrassed that Rita had seen the second half of our public spectacle and our mad, clumsy dash back up to our room. I just grin and press myself as close to Dean as physically possible and fall easily back to sleep.

I never realized how badly I slept until Dean and I started sleeping together. In bed. I mean, seriously sleeping, nothing sexual.

… not that we don't… in fact we do…

It's only been two days, but seriously - you can do a lot in just two days. Well, come on! Look at what God is supposed to have done in seven days!

Back to the subject at hand, I sleep amazingly better than I did when I slept alone. I hadn't ever noticed how much I wake up in the middle of the night or how often I toss and turn. I'm much more refreshed after a night with Dean.

…I'm done talking about this subject because clearly my mind is elsewhere. Obviously it's not just my sleep that has changed in two days but my mentality as well.

However, this morning I was feeling a bit more pessimistic than usual. I couldn't help but wonder, why me? I really wasn't anything special; in fact I was a downright nutcase! What guy, in their right mind, would fall for and want to be with a girl who grew up in the life I had? Not even a guy who lived one! We all know the real reason Sam left and hasn't ever called is because he's ashamed of us and wants a normal life, not that stupid bullshit about wanting an education. It's Darwinism! It's Survival of the Fittest! No guy has the biological code that could possibly allow them to fall for a female who is incapable of taking care of them or any possible family they might have together.

Thankfully, Dean wrapped his arm around me and stopped my erratic train of thought. Knowing me, it would have continued past the possibility of mutated babies and somewhere on to the path of obesity and the loss of teeth. My mind wanders, okay? I worry about things, just like any other normal person.

"What time is it?" Dean asked groggily. I pressed my nose into his chest and tried not to gag at his morning breath. It was eye-watering and the other day it had nearly been vomit-inducing. I needed to buy mints to stick in his mouth before he wakes up or something.

"I dunno," I said to his chest. I reached around him and blindly groped around for a cell phone. I found mine and handed it to him.

"Almost nine," he muttered, tossing the phone behind me and reaching up to rub his eyes. "Let's get breakfast."

I managed to convince Dean to leave the Impala at the motel so we walked around trying to find a diner. The only times Dean will walk somewhere is to get from his car to a building and vice versa, so when he does walk he normally does it at a very quick pace. Honestly I don't think there's been a time when he chose to walk somewhere unless he knew he was way too hammered to drink. That usually never happens because he is never 'too hammered'.

"I met at a leisurely pace, Dean," I whined, pulling him back by his arm. He stopped for a moment and glanced back at me before he nodded slightly. He slowed down and matched his pace to mine. I reached down for his hand but grasped at air before I noticed his hands were in his pants pockets.

I couldn't do anything about it because my cell phone started ringing in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the caller I.D.

_Sam calling_

Dean stopped and turned when he noticed that I had stopped walking.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Sam," I said. I quickly hit the answer button before Dean could say anything and I turned my back to him, walking away a little. "Hello?"

"Rose?" I heard him say.

"You're not drunk again, are you?" I asked, a little bitter.

"So that really happened?" He asked. I could picture him putting his palm to his face. "I had kinda hoped that had all been a dream."

"Nope," I said, popping the p. I turned back to glance at Dean and saw him leaning against a streetlight looking at the ground. "So if you're not drunk, then why are you calling?"

"Well, partly to see if that had been a dream or not, partly to apologize if it hadn't been, and partly to see how you're doing." He said. I knew Sam well enough to pick up the subtle tone of hesitation and a little stretch of the truth.

"Well it's fine, and I'm fine." I told him. "Look, Dean and I were just about to get breakfast,"

"How's Dean?" He asked, cutting me off. I let my head drop back and I glared at the sky since I wasn't able to glare at Sam.

"He's fine." I told him, hoping my annoyance was obvious.

"Right," he said. I could tell he got the picture. "I'll let you get to breakfast. It was good talking to you, Rosie."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and felt someone grab my arm gently. I looked up and saw it was Dean, looking curious and a little worried.

"Yeah," I said to Sam.

"I miss you," I heard him say as I pulled the phone away from my ear and hit the 'end-call' button.

"What'd he want?" He asked. I shrugged and put my phone back in my pocket.

"His finger slipped when he was dialing and had meant to call someone else." I said. Dean rolled his eyes and then held out his hand for me. I glanced from his hand to his face.

"I noticed a diner up the street, let's go check it out." He said, motioning for me to take his hand. I couldn't help but smile and wonder if he knew he was cheering me up or not. I decided not to care and I grabbed his hand and followed him to the diner.

We got inside and noticed that it was fairly busy. One of the waitresses passed by and told us to sit where we'd like. Dean led me to a booth and we waited for our menus.

"I'm Amy, and I'll be your waitress," A girl with pretty hazel eyes and her bottom lip pierced stopped at our booth and set down the menus in front of us. She had a really strong Irish accent. I flipped my menu open and started scanning through the breakfast items. I wasn't quite sure what I felt like. "Can I start you off with anything to drink?"

Dean didn't say anything so I looked up and realized she was talking to me. I smiled apologetically.

"Coffee would be great," I said. She nodded and turned to Dean.

"I'll stick with coffee, too." He said. She nodded again and left to get our coffee. I could smell her shampoo and by the sounds of Dean's nose sniffing, he could too.

"She smelled good," He muttered, looking back down at his menu. I frowned and discreetly smelled a bit of my hair. It didn't really smell like much of anything since I was stuck using the motel travel sized seriously generic shampoo. My hair wasn't ever really soft because they barely ever had conditioner. And if Dean got in the shower before me he usually used all the shampoo and barely left me any. I had a lot more hair than he did and I'm sure that my hair wasn't naturally supposed to be as bristly and straw-like at the ends as it was.

Amy came back and took our orders and then came back again when our orders were ready. I couldn't help but overhear a conversation she was having with one of the other waitresses as they cleaned up a few booths nearby.

"Yay!" Amy cheered to herself. "I get off in 20 minutes."

"I hate you," the other waitress whined. "I don't get off for four hours."

"Are you listening to a word I've been saying?" Dean asked, tuning me back to the conversation we were apparently having. I shook my head.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something and didn't realize you were talking." I said. "What were you saying?"

"Just talking about where we should check out next." He said chewing around his pancakes. We continued eating in silence and I couldn't help but keep an eye on Amy. After a little while she stopped by our table.

"How's everything going here?" She asked.

"Amazing," Dean said. I couldn't help but smile at him. He was always incredibly happy after having a full meal, especially breakfast.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" She asked. Dean and I both shook our heads and she smiled and left. I got a whiff of her shampoo again and I subconsciously pouted. What if Dean realized that my hair was as damaged as it was and it made him not want to be with me anymore? I really needed to do something.

"You okay?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes at me. "You're unusually quiet."

I lied and shook my head, faking a smile for him.

"I'm totally fine," I said, waving my hand at him. "I was just thinking about a few things I need to get before we drive off."

"Sure," Dean said, shrugging. "Where are we going?"

"Uh," I hesitated. Damn Dean to hell for making me worry about my personal appearance. I was never this self conscious before we started going out, so why am I acting so unhinged now? "It's actually stuff like tampons and health food, I'm sure you don't want to be there when I get that stuff."

I saw Dean hesitate but he quickly put on a fake smile.

"I don't mind," he said, obviously lying. I rolled my eyes and inwardly damned him to hell again, this time for him wanting to be such an amazing boyfriend. Two days ago he would have cowered in fear and thrown holy water on me if I asked him to come with me to buy tampons. I wanted to hate him for forcing himself to come, but I really couldn't.

"No, it's fine. You should spend the time trying to find a lead or something." I told him. He instantly relaxed with relief but seemed to catch himself. I almost rolled my eyes again. He truly thought he was getting out of doing something horrible. He cleared his throat.

"That's a good idea." He said. "I'll drop you off at a grocery store and you can call me when you finish."

I smirked.

"I actually had a different idea," I told him innocently.

I glanced at Dean in the rearview mirror, watching my every turn, as I drove the Impala quickly back towards the diner. If I was right, she should have just been getting out of the diner…

"There you are," I muttered to myself, pulling over to the street next to where our waitress from the diner was walking. I rolled down my window and leaned out. "Amy, right?"

She stopped and looked at me. She turned around to look behind her and I noticed that she had a black rose tattooed on the back of her neck. She turned back to me and pointed at herself in question. I smiled and nodded and waved her over.

"Can I help you?" She asked. I nodded.

"I hope so," I told her. "You were my waiter at the diner just a little while ago," she still looked like she didn't recognize me. "I was there with my boyfriend."

"Oh, right!" She exclaimed, a look of recognition on her face. "So what's up?"

"Well, okay, it's a long story," I told her, reaching into the pocket of my backpack for my wallet. I pulled out a couple bills and held them out to her, "but if you help me out for the next hour or so, I'll tell you the gist of it and I'll give you $40."

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the money in my hand for a moment.

"You're not some serial killer or anything are you? I mean, this is kind of like the adult version of a puppy in the back of a van. You're not going to lure me in with the promise of money, but them drive me back to some cheap motel where your boyfriend is waiting and skin me alive," I watched her with wide eyes as she continued to ramble on.

"I just need some help," I told her, stopping her from what might have gone on forever. She shrugged and grabbed the forty bucks and walked around the front of the car to the passenger seat, slipping the money in her purse on the way.

I started driving.

"I'm Rose, by the by." I told her. She glanced at me.

"Really?" She asked. I raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Because your credit card said your name was Gwen Holiday."

_Shit!_

"My middle name is Rosemary," I told her. "Gwen was my mom's name too, so I go by Rose."

"That makes sense," Amy said. "I'm sorry about before, on the street. I tend to ramble on forever when I'm nervous and for some reason I just got that vibe like you had guns in your trunk or something."

I laughed and secretly hoped that she didn't feel like opening the glove compartment.

I pulled into a parking spot in front of the first drug store that I found and grabbed my wallet before getting out of the car. Amy followed behind and looked a little confused. I grabbed a small basket on our way in and followed the signs to where all the hair products and shower stuff was.

"So, basically, I lived with a traveling salesman and his two sons for all of my life and I've never really cared about what shampoo I use. I've always used the motel shampoo and soap, but I just recently got into this relationship and I've never cared more about my shampoo and what I smell like." I exhaled. "It's exhausting."

Amy smiled kindly at me and patted me on the back.

"It happens to every girl, but usually it happens around middle school…" She added, trailing off a little. She snapped back to the matter at hand. "So this is why you needed my help?"

"Well, yeah," I muttered. I could feel my face growing red. I only now just realized how ludicrous it was to pick up a stranger off the street and pay them to help me buy shampoo. What I really need is help putting on a straight jacket and directions to the closest insane asylum.

"It's cool." She said, shrugging again. "I mean, you grew up without any female influence so it's pretty understandable."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She nodded and turned to the shelves to scan all the different bottles. It was daunting; there were different brands with different smells for different hair styles. What does 'tousled' look like anyway? She grabbed one bottle.

"This one, personally, is my favorite." She popped open the cap and smelled it before she held it under my nose. I inhaled the scent as well. "Citrus fruit infusion."

"That's nice," I said. She closed the cap and put it back on the shelf.

"But I think you want something that'll help all your damaged hair," she said. I looked down at my hair.

"It's damaged?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, you should probably get it cut." I nodded vaguely and she pulled off another bottle.

"Here, smell this one," she said as she opened the cap and put it under my nose. It smelled amazing. "It supposedly smells like wild roses and pomegranate."

"Well," I said after inhaling the smell, "I'm not really sure if that is what it smells like, but it does smell good."

"Almost edible, right?" Amy asked. I nodded and she dropped the bottle in my basket. I grabbed the matching conditioner and we moved down the aisle towards body wash. We started smelling all the different ones and I finally decided on one that smelled like a bouquet of flowers. I purchased the items and we got back into the Impala.

"Thanks so much," I told her earnestly. She waved it off.

"It's no problem." She told me. "It's not like I was doing anything, anyway."

"Where can I take you?" I asked her as I pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the semi busy street. She started directing me towards her flat and I parked on the street.

"You know," she said, pausing after she opened the car door, "If you were thinking about cutting your hair, I'm pretty good with a pair of scissors."

I considered her offer. My hair was getting unbearably long and it got in my way more often than not. I nodded and turned off the engine.

"Hell yeah, why not?" I said. She grinned.

"Good, and how about a shot of tequila while we're at it?" I quickly agreed and followed her into her home.

Two hours and three shots of tequila later, my long, tangled black hair had been washed with my new shampoo and conditioner and was cut short, right above my shoulder blades. It was the perfect length that wouldn't get in my way if it was down and I could still easily tie it back.

"Thank so much, Amy." I told her standing in the doorway or her home. She smiled happily.

"It was no problem. I'll bank it as my good karma for the day." She said. "Plus, the forty bucks didn't hurt either."

I parked in the empty spot in front of or motel and just realized that the sun was starting to go down. The lights in our motel room were on and once or twice I saw Dean's shadow move across the curtains. I grabbed my backpack and the plastic bag with my purchases and made my way to our room. I entered and shut the door behind me before looking up at Dean.

He was standing in the doorway to the bathroom and was staring at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. He stayed like that for a moment before he shook his head and a smirk grew on his face. He walked over to me.

"Tampons?" He asked as he held onto my waist with one hand and ran his other through my hair. I blushed and tried to fight the tiny smile that was trying to make its way onto my lips.

"I might have lied," I told him. He smiled and leaned down to kiss me but stopped, hovering centimeters away from my lips. I heard him inhale and he raised an eyebrow.

"Your hair smells like pie," he said quietly. I frowned and I bit my lip. _The bottle lied!_ I thought frantically. _It's supposed to smell like roses and pomegranate!_

"Is that okay?" I asked. He pulled away slightly and looked at me like I was crazy.

"Woman, are you seriously asking me if it's okay that your hair smells like pie?" I nodded hesitantly. He sighed and shook his head. "I guess I failed you if you've forgotten that pie is one of my favorite things in the world."

"So," I asked with a little smirk, "It's a good thing?"

"We'll come back to that question after we deal with how turned on the smell makes me," he mumbled. I giggled and ran under his arm and tried to get away from him. He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him, growling a little. "Where do you think you're going?"

**Hershey, Nebraska**

**August, 2002**

Dean and I were driving to meet up with John and we were arguing about whether or not Hersheypark was in Hershey, Pennsylvania or in Hershey, Nebraska. It was totally in Pennsylvania but he didn't believe me.

"You are such a liar, Bennett." He accused. "You just don't want me to get fat."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, that is the last thing I'm worried about."

Dean glanced over at me. "Okay, I'll bite."

"Ooh, kinky. Bite what?" I asked a little confused.

"What are you worried about?" He asked. "And don't say 'nothing' because I know you better than that. You didn't sleep last night."

"How did you know that?" It was true. I didn't sleep the other night, but I thought that I had kept still enough that I didn't wake Dean up.

"I'm just so amazing," he said, grinning. I shook my head with a smile. "Aw, you don't deny it anymore."

"Yes, but I don't agree with it either. Your ego doesn't need to be any bigger than it all ready is." I said. He laughed for a moment before getting serious again.

"But seriously, what were you thinking about last night?" He asked. I sighed and bit my lip.

"We have to tell your dad." I said. He didn't say anything and just stared out at the road in front of him. "It's been almost five months that we've been a couple and we've spent at least two months with him and he doesn't know. Or he does know and he's just not saying anything."

"I know," Dean said. I knew he was wary to tell his dad, but if John found out before we told him I'm sure the consequences would be much greater than if we just told him. "We'll tell him this time, okay?

I nodded and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "I'm sorry that I've been nagging about it."

"Please," he scoffed, "you're not sorry."

I smirked. "True."

John's truck was all ready at the motel when we pulled in next to him and Dean grabbed our duffels as I knocked on the door. He opened it and let us in. John's stuff was all ready on the couch, meaning that he was going to sleep there and let Dean and I have the two beds. Well, he wasn't going to be sleeping there for very long.

Dean dumped our bags on one bed and we both turned to John, ready to tell him.

"I all ready interviewed one of the victim's families but I was thinking we could go to the morgue now to see the body." John said while going through his notes. I looked up at Dean and gave him a look, telling him to say something. He just shrugged and gave me a look back. I cleared my throat and went to sit at the table across from John.

"Dean and I have something to tell you," I said. John looked up between the two of us before he looked at Dean. I turned to Dean who was still standing in the same place. He looked like a deer caught in someone's headlights. Was he really that afraid to tell his dad? Was he ashamed that John would want him to have someone better? I didn't want to admit that it hurt a bit.

"Well?" John asked, waiting. I glared at Dean and sighed before looking back at John and shaking my head.

"Never mind," I got up and grabbed my wallet as I started to feel my eyes burn. "I'm going to get something from the vending machines."

I left the room, closing the door behind me without looking at Dean. I hoped he knew I was angry with him. I couldn't believe he couldn't tell his dad. I stood in front of the two vending machines, one for drinks and one for snacks, and decided what to get. I heard a door open and close but ignored it.

"I'm sorry," I heard. I shook my head.

"Snickers or Peanut M&M's?" I asked. He sighed.

"Look, it's not any of his business anyway," he said, a little aggravated. I turned to glare at him.

"He's your dad! And he's going to sleep on the couch because he thinks we'd rather have our own beds. I don't know about you, but I sleep a lot better in the same bed as you." I snapped. I pulled out an extra dollar and decided that I wanted both a Snickers and M&M's. "Are you ashamed of me?"

"What?" He said it like I was ridiculous. "Of course I'm not ashamed of you. You're the one who should be ashamed of me."

I smirked and had to agree. "That's true."

"Do you really sleep better with me?" Dean asked, smiling a little. He only really smiled around me. Otherwise it was his usual smirk or cocky grin. I loved his smile but I shook my head, it wasn't going to work. John needed to know.

"I'm not letting you off the hook." I told him. He needed to know how serious I was about this. "If you can't tell your dad, then maybe we shouldn't be together."

His smile fell and he glared back at me. "Are you serious?

"I've never been more serious in my life." He quickly turned around and started walking away from me and back towards the motel room. He didn't look back and I took a deep breath as I felt my throat start to constrict. I rubbed my eyes, hoping to keep tears from showing up but that only seemed to make them come faster. Was that it? Was I so easy to walk away from?

I grabbed my candy from the vending machine and started walking slowly back, wiping my eyes and trying to look more presentable. John would notice if I looked like I had been crying.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye in the parking lot and I turned but didn't see anything. There wasn't anybody except the cars but I could have sworn I had seen something.

The door to our motel opened while I was still looking out at the parking lot but I turned and saw John standing there, staring at me intently. My heart stopped.

"What?" I asked, wiping my face just in case.

"Is it true?" He asked. I looked over his shoulder and saw Dean standing there with an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. I saw him smile and I smiled back.

"Yes," I said, softly. John smiled and I could really see the resemblance between him and Dean. He held his arms open and I fell into his hug.

"I'm really happy for you two." He said before pulling away. He held onto my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. "But promise me that you won't let it get in the way of your job."

I nodded, mentally rolling my eyes. "I promise." I said.

John grinned. "Guess that means I get a bed now, huh?"

"So," Dean said as we made our way to the entrance of the morgue, "do we get to stop at Hersheypark?"

John glanced over his shoulder to give him a look. "That's in Pennsylvania, Dean."

When John turned back around I stuck my tongue out at Dean. "Told you so."

"Told you so," he mimicked. John smacked him upside his head and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. He wouldn't hesitate to smack me either.

"Let's try to act mature when we go in there. We want to give them the illusion that we actually are from FBI and not just a bunch of crazies celebrating Halloween early." John snapped. Dean nodded and rubbed the back of his head. He glared at me when John turned back around.

"You totally deserved that," I whispered, straightening my jacket and skirt. I pulled out my fake and Dean put his hand on the small of my back, leading me into the building.

"I'm Agent Ed Platt and these are my associates Agents Don Adams and Barb Feldon," John said to the lady behind the counter, pointing to Dean and me. We all flashed the secretary our fakes and she nodded slowly. "We'd like to see the body of the recent murder."

She picked up her phone and called for someone to come up and get us. We waited for a few moments before a man in his early 30's in a lab coat came out from behind a door. I couldn't help but notice that he was pretty attractive.

"Agents," He motioned for us to follow him and he held the door open for us as we passed through. Dean let me go first and the doctor let go of the door after I passed him and almost closed the door on Dean.

"I'm Doctor Moseley," he held his hand out for me to shake and I smiled gently. Despite his good looks, I was a little freaked out by him. He took my hand and was about to kiss the back of it but Dean came up and wrapped his arm around my waist. He glared at the doctor as he dropped my hand and went to catch up with John who was waiting for us at the end of the hall.

Dean let go of my waist but kept his hand on my back, like before. I smiled softly up at him and he smiled back. I liked when he saved me from creepers. It made me feel safe.

The doctor led us into the morgue and I gagged and covered my mouth when I saw, and smelled, that the body was already lying out on the table. John handed me one of the masks and I nodded in thanks as I covered my face with it.

"I can't really determine the cause of death, but we can rule out suicide." He pointed to several punctures on the corpse. "There are tiny punctures everywhere, all over his body and I've searched through our entire database. I don't have a clue what made those."

"How did you get this job?" Dean asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes but had to hold back a laugh. This guy didn't really seem like he knew what he was doing, but that was probably because this wasn't a normal death. I looked closely at the puncture on the neck and narrowed my eyes at it. They were very recognizable, tiny bite wounds; I just couldn't place where I'd seen them before.

Dr. Moseley glared at Dean but didn't answer him.

"I ran a test on the punctures and there was a substance that our computers found that had been injected in the body which makes me think the punctures were from a poisonous animal bite. If that's true than this man died from the poison because we found an extremely high amount of it in his bloodstream." I looked up at John to see what he was thinking but I couldn't tell from his face. He was really good at keeping his face blank when he had too.

"Can we get a copy of the tests you ran?" Dean asked. The doctor nodded and grabbed a stack of paper that had all ready been printed and handed them to me. I flipped through it quickly, looking for the blood tests.

"Thank you for your time," John said, nodding. Dean and I followed but Dr. Moseley stopped me. I turned to look at him.

"How long are you in town?" He asked, smiling. "Maybe I can buy you dinner."

"Sorry," Dean said before I could open my mouth. He started to gently push me out of the room. "She's got a boyfriend."

John was all ready outside when we left the building and Dean started undoing his tie. I handed John the papers and showed him the blood tests and I could have sworn I saw something out of the corner of my eye again. I turned but there was nothing there.

"It's familiar," I told them, "they're definitely bite marks, but I can't place them."

John nodded and started to get into his truck. "I'll meet you back at the motel."

He drove off and Dean and I sighed. I looked up at Dean just as my stomach grumbled.

"Hungry?" He asked with a smile. I shrugged but nodded. He led me to the car and opened the passenger door for me. He shut the door behind me and then ran around to the driver's side and got in. "We can get something before we go back."

"Let's just do fast food drive-through," I said and Dean nodded. "I really want a chocolate milkshake."


	22. Nothing's Wrong With Scarborough Fair

**Chapter 22**

I sipped happily on my milkshake as we walked into the motel room and Dean handed John a thing of French fries.

"Faeries." John said. We turned to stare at him and I nodded, putting the pieces together. Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Like, honest to god faeries?" Dean asked and John nodded. "I thought they were supposed to be nice."

"No, faeries are nasty." John said. "They contain high levels of their own sort of poison. One tiny little bite and you've got the poison swimming through your blood stream in milliseconds. Extremely deadly."

"Then that guy must have done something to seriously piss them off," Dean said. "There must have been at least two dozen bites on him."

"It explains why I keep seeing things out of the corner of my eyes," I added. John turned to me sharply but Dean was confused.

"Why?"

"Because faeries are invisible to the human eye. They're always there in the corner of your eye, but when you turn to look there's nothing there." I said. John looked at me.

"Where did you see them?" He asked.

"Out in the parking lot earlier and when we came out of the morgue." I said.

"This isn't good," John said. Dean and I glanced at each other before looking back at him in confusion.

"Why isn't it good that Rose is seeing these things?" Dean asked, moving protectively closer to me.

"Because if you can see them, then it's too late." John was starting to freak me out and I looked up at Dean with a frown.

"What do you mean dad? Enough with the stupid riddles and tell me!" Dean shouted. "Is Rose in trouble?"

John sighed and looked up at us before nodding. "Usually you can't see them ever, but if you start seeing things in the corner of your eye that means they're after you."

My breath stuck in my throat.

"They chose randomly because they don't have an agenda or motive for anything they do." He looked at me. "I'm sorry Rose."

I shook my head frantically. "No, I'm not going to let faeries be the death of me and have my headstone say 'Here lies Rosemary, good friend to all but she couldn't stand up to a faerie', thank you."

"Then you're going to have to stay in the motel until we get rid of them," John said. "They need fresh air to live so they never go into buildings."

"How do we get rid of them?" Dean asked. John pulled out his journal and flipped through the pages.

"All groups of faeries have a stone circle that feeds them energy from the earth. If we find the circle and destroy it then it should destroy the faeries with it." John said. I took a deep breath and sat down on Dean's and my bed.

"Where are the stone circles usually hidden?" Dean asked.

"It has to be nearby in order for them to feed off its energy. Usually they are deep in the woods." I choked a laugh out and the both looked at me.

"We're in Nebraska," I told them. They shook their heads, not understanding what I was getting at. "How are we going to find the stone circle in a forest in Nebraska?"

Dean sat down next to me and took my hands in his, squeezing tightly. "We'll find it, Rose. I promise."

"What if they start going after you guys too?" I asked. "We need a way to defend ourselves."

I got up and rummaged through my duffel until I pulled out my journal. I started flipping through pages. Faeries were one of the creatures that I had over dosed on researching when I was still with my mom so I knew I had to have something written in there. I hadn't ever dealt with them with the Winchesters so over time I forgot about them.

"If I remember correctly there is a plant that is extremely deadly to them." I said. "If we figure out which plant, I'm sure I have it written somewhere, then we'll have to stock up on it and keep it on us. They won't be able to come near us."

They both watched me, amazed and I stopped to look back at them.

"What?" I asked. John turned to Dean and pointed to him sternly.

"If you don't marry this girl or you somehow manage to run her off I'll kill you." John ordered. Dean stared back with wide eyes and red cheeks and nodded meekly. John came over to me and kissed my forehead. "You two stay here and try and figure it out. I'll call some people and go to the library while it's still open and see if I can find anything."

John left, shutting the door tightly behind him, and I stretched out on my stomach on my bed while flipping through my journal. Dean came and stretched out next to me with a different book.

"Did you hear what he said?" Dean asked after a moment of silence. I blushed and nodded as I kept flipping through my journal. "Hey, look at me."

His voice was so soft that I couldn't help but stop and look at him. He was smiling sweetly and he leaned forward to place a kiss on my lips.

"You were right," he said, looking back at his book. "We should have told him a long time ago."

I finally found my notes on faeries but I couldn't believe what I had written.

"That can't be right," I muttered. I took out my laptop and started to search the internet.

"What?" Dean asked, looking at my journal. He read the passage that I had left open. "Wait, so your notes on faeries are the lyrics to a Simon and Garfunkel song?"

I shrugged. "I was only 4 at the time."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "but come on, Simon and Garfunkel?"

"Scarborough Fair is a good song. I don't care what you say." I told him.

"But Simon and Garfunkel?" I rolled my eyes.

"You're never going to let this go, are you?" I asked him.

"Nope, probably not." I didn't respond and started to read about the song.

"Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." I recited softly to myself, noticing that I had underlined the phrase.

"Then she'll be a true love of mine." I slowly turned my head to look at Dean. He was thumbing through my journal, not working on the task at hand. I stared at him.

"So you'll make fun of me for having the lyrics in my journal but you've memorized the lyrics?" I asked.

"Just that line," he defended.

"Sure sweetheart, whatever helps you sleep at night." I said sarcastically, turning back to my laptop screen. I was looking at a breakdown and assessment of the lyrics and stopped to read something over again. "Interesting."

"What?" Dean asked, looking over at my screen. I pointed out the line I was reading.

"Those four herbs; parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme - they're said to be used to make a love charm." Dean shrugged.

"So?" He asked.

"So," I mocked, "faeries are supposed to be inherently evil. Love is always conquering over evil."

"Then you think that if we carry around a mix of those that we'll be fine?" Dean asked. I shrugged. "It's good enough for me."

He flipped open his phone to call his dad and tell him what I found. John went to get the four herbs before coming back to the motel and I crushed them all together and put the mixture into three different leather pouches. I handed one to Dean and one to John and put the last one around my neck as they did the same.

"All right," John said while putting together some things to take with him while we went and destroyed the circle. "Dean, let's go."

"Wait," I paused, "what?"

Dean turned to look at me while he tucked his gun into the back of his jeans. I wasn't quite sure why he felt he needed a gun to go find and destroy a stone circle, but hey, to each his own.

"We don't know if these things," he motioned to the pouch, "are going to work for sure. So you're staying here."

I frowned and looked between the two before I sighed and plopped down on the bed, pouting. I knew better then to argue since I knew they wouldn't hesitate to tie me up and make sure that I didn't leave.

"Just be safe then," I told Dean, glancing at John. John cleared his throat awkwardly and excused himself before going outside to his truck. I looked back at Dean and he came to stand in front of me. I stood up and wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"We'll be fine." He said, resting his head on mine. I could feel his warm breath through my hair. "I'll call you when we finish, okay?"

I nodded and looked back up at him. He smiled and kissed my forehead before placing his lips on mine. We kissed for a moment before he pulled away. He took off his leather jacket and swung it over my shoulders. He knew it would make me feel better about letting him go off without me.

"Okay," I said, pecking his lips once more. "Don't take too long okay?"

"We won't, but just in case don't wait up for us, all right?" He said. I shook my head.

"No promises." I wouldn't fall asleep until he was right in bed next to me. Dean left and I glanced at the clock as soon as the door shut. It was only six o'clock.

...

I decided to spend my time by trying to figure out where the stone circle could be. I ran quickly to the front desk and grabbed some of the maps and hiking trail brochures that they had and ran back to my motel room. I didn't see anything out of the corner of my eye, meaning that the pouches were working or they weren't after me anymore. The second reason brought up another pressing matter. If they weren't after me anymore, then who were they after?

I shook that thought out of my head and spread the maps out on my bed with the laptop nearby. A lot of websites about faerie lore said that faeries could manipulate the weather in the vicinity that they were in, usually only about a mile radius around them. Between Sam and all the technology books I've read I managed to hack into a weather satellite that broadcasted the town's current weather when I imported the coordinates. I had gotten to be quite the computer nerd in my time. I was hoping that maybe I could catch the faeries while they started to cause some mayhem with the weather.

I started looking at all the maps and read over the hiking brochures to see if maybe any of them mentioned a small stone circle. I could see that being something the locals would push as a tourist attraction. My cell started ringing and I checked the time before I answered. Dean and John had only been gone for a couple hours.

"Hello?" I answered.

"We can't find anything, so we're heading back to you and we'll pick back up with researching." Dean said. I heard them getting into the truck and John starting the engine.

"Okay, well I found some more things that could help," I said. "Faeries can manipulate the weather within a mile radius of their location."

Dean passed the information on to John. "Did she find a way to check the weather?"

"Yes," I said, before Dean could repeat what his father said. "I hacked into the local current weather satellite readings but so far there hasn't been a drastic change anywhere."

"Anything else you might have found?" Dean asked. I shook my head, forgetting he couldn't see.

"No, I've just been reading brochures about hiking trails and any tourist attractions that might have mentioned a stone circle."

"Okay, we're on our way back then. If you find something soon let us know." I said that I would. "Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and set it aside and continued to read the brochure I had been reading before Dean called.

When they got in, Dean set his stuff down and then fell over on to the bed, sighing dramatically. I rolled my eyes and tried to pull out all my papers from under him. He whined.

"What is your problem?" I asked, chuckling.

"I'm tired." I raised an eyebrow.

"It's not even ten and you're tired?" I said. He shrugged. I rested the back of my hand on his forehead. "Are you getting sick?"

He shrugged and just kicked off his shoes before curling up and closing his eyes. I had to smile at how cute he looked. I ran my hand through his hair to comfort him. I hoped that he wasn't getting sick. His forehead wasn't warm but it was a bit chilly out at night.

John came in a moment later and shut the door behind him. He came over to see all the work that I had done.

"I managed to call a few tourist centers and asked if they had ever heard of a stone circle on any of the hiking trails but none of them could remember hearing about anything like that." I said. John picked up one of the maps and brought it over to his bed before laying it out and looking over it. "One said that she'd check with the rest of her guides in the morning and give me a call back if she found anything."

John nodded. "I think that's all we can do until it's light out then."

I started to fold up all the brochures and I stuck the useful ones (mainly the ones I had marked on) in my journal with the song lyrics. I put my journal away and grabbed some pajamas before going into the bathroom to change.

When I came out John was still looking over the map and crossing out the few places they had checked and Dean had taken off his pants and was only wearing a t-shirt and boxers. He was pulling back our sheets and I smiled gratefully as I slipped into the bed. He slid in next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"You staying up longer Dad?" Dean asked as I shut my eyes to fall asleep. I didn't hear an answer because I had all ready passed out.

...

...

**I just realized that my note at the bottom of the last chapter got deleted for some strange reason. Anyway, I hope you guys liked the guest appearance and I wish that I had gotten a lot more reviews even without me asking for them, but oh well. You guys also didn't get to hear about Rose's online journal. The url to it is on my profile and it will be updated in accordance to when I update my chapters. For every supernatural being that Rose hunts there will be a post on the blog, so keep checking it out and be sure to comment.**

**I apologize for taking so long to update but it's been a busy week or so and I really couldn't find the time or energy. Plus I only got four reviews for the last chapter :( and that kinda made me wait a little longer to post as well. But it's almost a new week and it's my birthday next Tuesday! (Woohoo, 20! Won't be a teenager for much longer!) So please, please, please leave me more reviews than I got last chapter and don't forget to check Rose's online journal which will be updated soon too and it'll have her amazingly descriptive notes about faeries :) **


	23. Break the Circle

**Chapter 23**

My phone started ringing and I groaned as I reached over onto the nightstand for it. I didn't bother looking at the caller I.D. since the only people who were in my address on the phone is Dean and John. And Sam.

I did look at the time though, and I cussed when I saw it was only seven in the morning. Dean was still in bed but the shower was running so I figured it was John since his bed was empty. I carefully moved Dean's arm off of me and stepped outside to take the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, it's Macy from the tourist center." I perked up.

"Oh, hi!" I said. I crossed my fingers.

"I hope it's not too early to call." I almost laughed but didn't. I assured her it was fine instead. "Anyway, I overheard a few people talking just now about a stone circle they passed on one of their hikes so I got the information for you."

She told me the name of the trail and how to get there as I started to see things in the corner of my eye. I quickly went back inside the room since I didn't have the pouch on me and I peeked out the curtains to see if I could see anything. There wasn't anything there.

"Thanks so much, Macy." I said, hanging up. I quickly changed while the shower was still running and I woke Dean up and told him what I had found out.

He grinned and kissed my forehead. "Sometimes I think we'd be dead by now if it weren't for you."

I laughed. "Well, yeah, who else would do the obvious things like I do?"

He nodded. "It's true."

John came out of the bathroom and we told him as well. The boys quickly got ready as I checked my laptop and found the satellite signal for the current weather. What I found wasn't good, at all.

"Uh, guys," I said, "you might want to check this out."

They both hovered over my shoulder.

"What are we looking at?" Dean asked. I pointed out the changes in the weather.

"These five different spots are showing abnormal weather changes." I said. "I think we've been looking for a much smaller circle than it actually is."

It was true. The five spots were surrounding the town in a circle. John swore under his breath.

"Why is the weather changing now?" Dean asked.

"I think it's because they know we're trying to get rid of them." John said. He ran his hand over his face and through his hair.

"Do you think they're going to start attacking more people?" Dean asked. I nodded slowly as another weather spot showed up.

"I think they all ready are." I said.

"Shit." John got up and threw us our pouches of the love charms/faerie repellants. "We'll all have to split up to destroy that circle. That means you too, Rose. Stick with Dean."

"What about the one that the lady from the tourist center just told me about?" I asked. "That can't be a coincidence. Maybe that was the circle that brought them here originally and they made the bigger circle so they could cover more ground."

John nodded. "That makes sense." He came back over to the laptop where Dean and I were.

"You two take care of these two and the smaller circle." He said, pointing to the two that were closest to the hiking trail. "I'll take care of the other three. Rose, make sure you keep your laptop on and with you so we can navigate around the weather spots."

I grabbed my laptop and one of the maps I had been working on and snatched my cell phone up.

"Call me after you destroy your three and I'll do the same." John said, opening the door. As soon as we made our way to the cars I started to see the faeries in the corner of my eyes.

"Guys," I said. Thunder clapped overhead and rain started to pour down in sheets. We ran for our cars and Dean locked all our doors and quickly turned on the engine before skidding out of the motel parking lot. John booked it out as fast as we did but headed the other way.

I opened the map and started directing Dean where to go. Before we knew it we were stuck in a wind storm.

"I guess we're close to the first one?" Dean asked, trying to keep the Impala under control. I nodded and pointed to a spot where he could pull off. He was wary about leaving his car in these conditions but he didn't have much of a choice.

"So how are we going to destroy this thing?" I asked. Dean popped open his trunk and pulled out a couple sledgehammers, handing me one. I almost grinned and remembered running around with Dean and Sam smashing pumpkins on Halloween with the hammers. We started running as quickly towards where we calculated the stone to be and I skidded to a stop when I saw the giant six foot boulder.

"Well, shit." I said. Dean didn't respond but just started to attack the boulder with his hammer. I quickly joined in but couldn't swing the sledgehammer as fast as Dean was. The boulder cracked finally and the ground quaked a little before a blast of light burst through it. Dean quickly covered me as it exploded and we started running back to the Impala. The wind had stopped and the weather was normal again.

"The smaller circle is closest," I panted as we both got in the car. I checked my laptop and saw that one of John's boulder's had been destroyed since the weather was back to normal again in one of his areas. More weather spots were showing up everywhere else and the ones that marked the boulders were constant.

Dean started the car up again and stepped on the gas as I directed him to the trail. We'd have to travel on foot a lot farther to get to this circle than the boulders but it would probably be easier to destroy. There were quite a few cars parked in the hiking spot's parking lot and Dean swore under his breath.

"Come on," he said, grabbing our hammers and getting out of the car. I followed and grabbed the trail map from a billboard at the beginning. Macy had told me exactly which trail markers to look out for so we found the stones as quickly as possible.

Dean handed me my hammer and we started breaking the five small rocks, experiencing the same things that happened at the boulder, but at a smaller scale. I could barely catch my breath as we ran the trail back to the car and we got back in.

"This is almost as brutal as John's old training courses. I swear if this doesn't work I'm going to cry," I said as I directed Dean to the next, and final, boulder we had to destroy. This one was pretty far out of the way.

"Aw, Rosie," Dean said. "I won't let you cry. I'll buy you another milkshake."

I laughed and agreed. The wind started picking up and it started to snow. Dean and I stared at each other. It was snowing in August. Crazy faeries.

I checked my laptop and saw that John had just destroyed another one and he only had one left, like us. I was amazed that he was breaking those huge boulders on his own, but I'm sure I didn't really help Dean all that much either. Besides, apparently it just needed one crack for it to break out of the circle.

Some of the random weather spots were disappearing which meant that the faeries were losing their energy and we were on the right track.

The Impala wasn't doing as well as we were though. The snow had turned into a blizzard and Dean was having trouble controlling the car.

"We're going to have to walk the rest of the way," Dean muttered finally. He left the car where it was and we got out. I cursed the sudden weather change. I had been wearing shorts and a t-shirt so I was pretty sure I was going to get frostbite. "Here."

I turned and saw Dean holding out his jacket for me. He was only wearing a t-shirt underneath it. I shook my head. "I'll be fine."

He laughed sarcastically and basically shoved the jacket on me. He grabbed my hand and we tried to make our way through the blizzard. "It's going to take forever!"

Dean didn't answer. Soon I wasn't able to talk either. I was too out of breath from trekking through the snow and my legs were starting to go numb. I kept tripping and the wind blowing against us didn't help at all. "Come on, Rose. You can do this."

He squeezed my hand and I tried to smile but it was too freaking cold. "I hate faeries!" I shouted. If it was even possible the snow started getting heavier and the wind faster. We were almost to the boulder.

"I think I see it." Dean called pointing ahead. I tried to see but it was too hard to see anything through the blizzard. It felt like hours that we were hiking through the snow and it probably had been.

We stopped finally and I looked up. The boulder wasn't as big as the other one we had dealt with, but that didn't mean it was going to be any easier to break. Dean handed me one of the sledgehammers he had been carrying. I was amazed that he had been able to carry two sledgehammers, hold my hand and navigate our way through all of this.

I tried to help with the boulder but I could barely lift the hammer. I felt so useless all I wanted to do was cry. Dean was swinging away at the boulder and I didn't even have enough strength to pick it up. I took a deep breath and finally picked it up, holding it over my head. I started to feel so dizzy but I swung that sledgehammer and hit that boulder as hard as I could.

I tried lifting it again but I couldn't. I felt too nauseous and weak. I kneeled down and bent my head between my legs. Everything was spinning and shaking, I knew I was going to be sick. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see a tiny faerie. The back of my neck started burning and I reached my hand back and felt a bump.

"Dean," I whispered, pulling my shaking hand back.

"Rose!" He sounded like he was miles away. I stared at the faerie in horror and watched as it started writhing in pain before it disappeared with a tiny pop.

I finally let everything catch up to me and I fell unconscious thinking about the faerie and how it bit me.

...

...

**I know it's short and not very good (this chapter was so incredibly hard to write, I'm not even kidding), but I'm uploading the next chapter right after I upload this one. I'm going camping tomorrow for my birthday (yay!) so I won't be updating again until next Sunday. Please leave me lots of reviews!**

**Love, Erin**


	24. The Best Friend Blues

**Chapter 24**

Everything hurt.

And I mean everything.

My legs hurt, my arms hurt, my torso hurt, my chest hurt, my head hurt, my throat hurt, my neck hurt.

Was I in Hell?

"Rosie?" Dean was there. So Hell definitely wasn't out of the question. "Rosie you gotta wake up now."

Was I asleep? I thought I had died. I got bitten by a faerie, right? The poisonous, deadly, stupid faeries.

"You've been in this hospital for too long. The doctors say that everything is stable. They say you should wake up soon." I felt pressure on my hand and something running through my hair. "So come on Rosie. Wake up."

He sounded so sad. Was he sad because of me?

"Dean?" A voice broke the silence. It was scratchy and almost familiar.

"Rose!" Someone was holding my face. "Rose, please."

I tried to move but I couldn't tell if it was working. I squeezed my eyes tightly and tried to open them, but I didn't see anything.

A knock came from somewhere.

"Any changes?" Was that John?

"She said my name and she's been moving her fingers. I think she's trying to wake up." Dean said. I heard a groan and my throat started burning like it was on fire. "Rosie, come on."

"I'll go get a nurse," John said.

My eyes finally opened but there was so much light that I had to shut them quickly.

"Hey," Dean said softly, brushing my face. His touch went away for a second and I heard his footsteps move away before I could tell the room got a little darker. I opened my eyes again and saw him walking back to me from the windows. He grabbed my hand and kissed my forehead. "I'm so glad you're awake. You were unconscious for days."

"What happened?" I asked. I grimaced. It felt like I was swallowing burning hot razor blades. Dean grabbed a cup from the table next to my bed. It finally struck me that I was in a hospital. "I thought I got bit."

I took the cup and sipped the water that was inside it. It helped my throat, but not that much. Dean sat on the edge of my bed and set the cup back on the table.

"I don't really know what happened," he answered. "You just went down. I broke the rock and Dad had broken his moments before. You wouldn't wake but you were burning up so we brought you here. You got pneumonia."

"Seriously?" I asked. "All that and I got pneumonia?"

Dean laughed as John came back in the room followed by a doctor. They both smiled when they saw I was awake.

"Ms. Parker, I'm glad to see you're awake." I smiled softly and wondered where they thought of the name. "Your fever has gone down and your vitals are stable. You have fought through a wonderful recovery and I daresay you'll be able to leave as soon as we get your paperwork through."

I grinned.

"Lovely," I said. Dean squeezed my hand as the doctor left. John came up to the other side of the bed.

"Everything's done, the faeries are gone." He said. We all smiled. John took a deep breath. "I found another job in Texas."

Dean and I nodded. That meant he was going off on his own again.

"We'll meet up again after our next jobs." Dean said. John nodded and said his goodbyes before leaving. At least he had stayed until I was awake. He stopped at the door and turned back to us.

"Be careful." He said. He turned and left before we had the chance to reply.

...

Dean and I were back in the Impala after we had gone back to the motel room. I had been in desperate need for a shower and Dean was so kind as to let me have one. Of course, he had joined me after a while, but I digress.

"Where are we headed next?" Dean asked as I tried to find an internet connection on my laptop. There wasn't anything around so I shook my head and turned it off.

"We won't know until we get there I think," I said. He shrugged.

"That's okay."

After a moment of silence Dean glanced at me. He looked determined.

"You're my girlfriend." I turned in my seat to face him. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah," I said. Where was he going with this?

"Normal couples go on dates." My lips started to curl into a smile. I liked the way this was going. Keep talking Dean.

"And?"

"And I think that we should go on a date. A real one." He said. I could tell he was excited and I was definitely right there with him. I never expected Dean to be this kind of guy. "So what do you say?"

"I say bring it," I told him. He grinned and I leant over to kiss his cheek. "What brought this on?"

He shrugged. "I guess I just got to thinking in the hospital. I know you better than you think, Rose, and I know that you want to do things that normal couples do. I mean, why else would you have gone to all that trouble with your hair? Not that I'm complaining about any of it."

I grinned. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, there are a few things I've been thinking about." My eyes widened in surprise. This wasn't just a spur of the moment. He'd really been thinking about this.

"Tell me," I whined. I wanted to know very, very badly. He chuckled and shook his head.

"It's a secret." He said. I pouted, sticking my bottom lip out farther than normally.

"But I wanna know." He shook his head again.

"Curiosity killed the cat." He said. I rolled my eyes and sat back in my seat.

"Yeah, well," I turned to look out the window. I was full on pouting now and not just for show. "Satisfaction brought it back."

...

I had fallen asleep an hour or so into the car ride. As much as I had grown to like Dean's music it still didn't help keep me awake. Long car trips like this were just so insanely boring and no amount of Metallica or Blue Oyster Cult was going to change that.

"Hey," Dean nudged me and I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes. I looked around and saw we were in a motel parking lot.

"Where are we?" I asked, getting out of the car. We were definitely in a large city but it was hard to tell the differences between the places we've been. They all seemed to blend together.

"We are in Chi-Town." I looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He grinned. "Chicago."

I smiled. "I've always wanted to visit Chicago."

He shrugged. "Lucky we have a job here then."

I pouted, suddenly not as excited as I had been before. Of course we'd be here for a job. There was no such thing as vacation for us.

"What's the job?" I asked. Dean opened the trunk and I took out my duffel. He took his out too before closing it and walking towards one of the rooms with a key in his hand. He must have checked in while I was still sleeping in the car.

"Dunno yet." He said. He pushed the door open and I followed him in. It was a usual motel room, nothing fancy. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Then why are we here?" I asked.

"Because people are disappearing." I nodded, sitting down on the bed. He shut the door and dropped his duffel on the ground before taking a running jump onto the bed. He landed face down and I laughed at the sound of impact he made. He turned his head to look at me, suddenly more serious than before. "I want you to take it easy."

I rolled my eyes. "Please Dean, I feel fine."

He sat up against the head board and opened his arms, motioning for me to come closer. I did and I cuddled up next to him, throwing my legs over his and wrapping my arms around him. He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face in my hair.

"I know you do, you look fine too." I pulled my head away and gave him a look. He smirked. "And by fine, I mean damn _fine_."

I giggled and put my head back against his chest.

"But," I knew there was going to be a but, "you just got out of the hospital. Will you just promise to tell me if you start to feel sick at all? Please don't push yourself more than your body can handle."

"I won't," I told him.

"Yeah, right. I know you better than you think I do." I sighed and pulled my head away to look at him again.

"I promise I won't over exert myself." I told him, looking him straight in the eyes. He stared right back, making sure I wasn't lying. He nodded once he was satisfied. "So people are disappearing?"

He nodded and pulled my head back to his chest. I smiled.

"Let's just take a nap first before we deal with work." He said. I somehow only just noticed that he sounded exhausted. Of course, he probably didn't sleep a wink when I was in the hospital and then he had driven from Virginia to Illinois. I nodded and closed my eyes but I could tell from his deep breathing that he was all ready asleep.

He really amazed me sometimes.

...

I woke up and noticed it was a bit darker outside, but not completely dark. I pulled away from Dean's sleeping body and rubbed my eyes. The clock on the nightstand said it was four in the afternoon. I didn't know what time we had gotten here but I doubted that Dean would wake up anytime soon.

My stomach rumbled and I tried to remember the last time I had eaten something. I couldn't remember so I grabbed Dean's car keys and wrote him a note, telling him that I was going out to get us something to eat. Hopefully he wouldn't wake up until I got back, but you never know.

I left the motel room, closing the door behind me softly, and went towards the Impala. It was so dirty; we'd definitely need to get it cleaned. I was a little surprised that John didn't give us crap about it, but I'm sure he would have if he noticed how unorganized the trunk of the car was. If Dean and I ever got a break we would have to go through it and reorganize it.

I started the car and grinned when I heard the engine roar. Dean barely ever let me drive the car. It made no sense since I was a way better driver than Dean, but he really didn't love anything more than this car. Sure, you couldn't tell because of the mess it was in, but it was true. I drove around looking for someplace to get some food and I decided that I'd make something. The motel we had came with a small kitchenette so I stopped at the first grocery store I found.

I decided that we definitely needed a salad so I bought some fresh vegetables and I figured that Dean would like lasagna. They had freshly bakes pies and I grabbed a apple pie to get since Dean's second love was pie. I got what I needed and left. I saw a thrift shop on my way back to the motel and figured that I should stop and get the pots and pans that I would need, since the motel probably didn't have them. We could leave them in one of the cupboards when we left.

When I got back to the motel, Dean was pacing back and forth. I shut the door behind me and he finally looked up. He looked so relieved as he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around me.

"Where did you go? I thought you had disappeared like what's been happening. I called your cell phone but you left it here." He pulled away and glared at me. "Why didn't you tell me where you went? I was going crazy!"

"Going?" I asked sarcastically, pulling away. I set the bags on the table and walked over to the nightstand where the folded note I had left for him with his name in big, bold, capital letters and picked it up to show him. "'Dean, I got hungry but I didn't want to wake you. I'll be back with food soon. Mwah. Rosie.'"

He took the letter from me and reread it, a blush tinting his face. I smirked and kissed both his cheeks before taking out the giant pot and started heating some water.

"Oh," he said quietly. I chuckled.

"It's okay. Sorry I left my cell phone." I said, turning to look at him. "I shouldn't have done that."

"S'okay." He said. He looked through all the things I bought. "Whatcha making?"

"Lasagna and a salad. And I bought apple pie for desert." I told him. He nodded, obviously happy with the decision I had made. "You should start researching on my laptop."

"How?" He asked. "We don't know anything."

I rolled my eyes. "Look up the Chicago Tribune on the internet and read any articles that could be related to the disappearances."

...

I continued to make dinner, helping Dean whenever there wasn't something I had to be working on for the lasagna and I couldn't help but think about what Sam was doing. It had been more than a year since he'd left. I wondered if he was living in dorms or if he was having trouble with his classes. I wondered what classes he was taking or if he had decided yet what his major was going to be. I kind of always imagined him as a doctor when I thought about him going to college. He was an amazing writer, too. What did he do during the summer? Did he take any classes? When did his classes start up again?

I wondered if he had made many friends. He was a very easy going guy and was very approachable. I had no doubts that he'd had any trouble finding friends. I wondered if he had a girlfriend. He was quite a catch and I knew he'd make any girl happy, but I wondered if he would find a girl to make him happy. That is why he left anyway; to be happy. I sighed as I took the lasagna out of the oven.

It still hurt to think that as his best friend I hadn't been able to make him happy. I felt like I had let him down, like I had failed him. And now we didn't even talk to each other anymore. I hoped that he thought and wondered about me as much as I did about him. Did he even miss me? Forget about all the demons and witches and stupid ass faeries. Didn't he miss my friendship? I sure as hell missed having him to talk to.

Don't get me wrong, I was so deliriously happy with Dean. He's been amazing. There were just some things that I can't talk to Dean about. Like our pasts and our mothers. I'm sure if I asked him to listen he would, and I'm sure he had a bit more perspective about the whole 'mother' topic since we were both around the same age when we lost our mothers. But ever since Sam had left he had taken a big chunk out of me and all I felt there was loneliness, 24/7. It wasn't a void that my amazing boyfriend could fill; it was strictly a 'Sam-my-best-friend' zone.

"Hey," Dean came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle. "You've been staring at that lasagna for about ten minutes and I've gotta tell you that the smell is killing me."

I turned my head to look at him with wide eyes. "It smells bad?"

I sniffed and realized my nose was plugged. Dean narrowed his eyes. "No, it smells amazing. Why are you crying?"

I felt my throat constrict and I turned around in his arms and hid my face in his chest, sobbing. He tightened his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. "What's wrong, Rosie?"

"I miss Sam," I cried. I felt Dean sigh. "Why did he do this to me?"

Dean moved us over to the bed and as soon as he sat us down I curled up on his lap, still bawling my eyes out.

"He was my best friend and he treated me like I was gum under his shoe!" He sighed again and I knew he really didn't want to talk about his brother. I knew he was trying to forget about his brother because of what he did but I wasn't as strong as Dean was.

"I wish I could forget him." I whispered, my sobs finally dying down a little.

"I know," he said. We stayed where we were for a few more minutes before I took a deep breath and sat up. I started to wipe my eyes but Dean turned my face towards him and wiped them for me. He held my face gently and brought it closer to his so our noses were touching. He was looking intently in my eyes.

"Sam had to do what he felt he had to do," he said. "There were a thousand better ways that he could have done it, but let's remember who we are and what we deal with on a daily basis."

I chuckled a little and nodded.

"I hate that he left us, but I hate him so much more for hurting you like this." I closed my eyes to keep the tears from coming back. I wanted to tell Dean how much I loved him, but we hadn't said those words since that day at the B&B.

"And you know what?" He asked. I opened my eyes again and shook my head. He smiled softly. "He thinks that it's so easy to get away from everything he grew up with, but it's going to suck him back in one way or another."

I nodded and he kissed my nose. "Thanks."

"Do you feel any better?" He asked. I nodded and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Then what do you say we reheat that lasagna, because I am starving."

The next morning I woke up with a huge headache from my breakdown the night before. I took a shower but that didn't help so I searched through the first-aid bag for some painkillers.

"How you feeling?" Dean asked as I got out of the bathroom. I smiled.

"A lot better this morning." I turned to face him. "Thanks, for last night. I know you hate chick-flick moments and I try to tone it down for you. I was just really upset and I couldn't hold it in."

He put his hands on my shoulders. "You don't ever have to tone down the chick-flick moments with me. You are my girlfriend, and damnit, if you're upset I want to help make you feel better."

I nodded and he kissed me sweetly.

"I love you, Rosemary" he said quietly. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I love you too, Dean."

...

...

**So hopefully this chapter was a lot better than the last. Like I said before, I won't be updating Chapter 25 until next Sunday. I hope to get lots of reviews.**

**See ya next week. :)**

**-Erin**


	25. Taken

**Chapter 25**

Dean and I were headed to talk to the police officer who had been in charge of the latest investigation. Dean was wearing his suit (and looking very sexy in it) and I was wearing mine as well only I had my skirt instead of pants. We were posing as FBI agents and I smirked when I noticed Dean glaring at all the men who he caught staring at me. It was cute how jealous and protective he got of me.

Dean held the door open for me and I left the heat outside and felt the rush of cool air. He put his hand on the small of my back and led me to the lady sitting behind the front desk. She looked up at us and stared at Dean in awe. I rolled me eyes.

I took my badge out of my purse and flashed it to her, Dean following suit. She snapped out of her fantasy.

"I'm Agent Scialfa and this is my partner Agent Springsteen." I said. Dean smirked at the names I chose but either she didn't notice or she was paying too much attention to him that she didn't hear what I said. Or maybe she just had no clue. She looked like the boy band type.

"Can I help you?" She asked Dean. I rolled my eyes again. I'm surprised that I don't suffer from eye strains or anything. I roll my eyes a lot around Dean.

"We'd like to talk to the officer in charge of the disappearances. We're investigating the case now." Dean said. She nodded and picked up the phone, dialing a few numbers before telling whoever was on the other line that we were waiting for them.

"Officer Vargas will come to get you shortly." She said. We nodded and stepped away from the desk. Dean had his back to her and I could see her looking over her computer to stare at him. I cleared my throat.

"Don't you have work to do?" I asked rudely. What? She was staring at my boyfriend. I know he's really good looking, but damn, you'd do the same thing.

Dean smirked at me and I glared at him. He was about to say something when a large man in a police uniform came out into the lobby.

"Agents?" He asked. We nodded. "Follow me."

We followed him to his office and he motioned for us to take a seat in front of his desk. He sat down and waited for us to do the same. Dean opted to stand behind my chair, like he normally did.

"What can I do for you?" He asked. He seemed a little nervous, but that was probably because he thought we were really FBI. It's not like we were going to tell him the truth.

"We'd like to know everything you've found out about the disappearances." Dean said. Vargas nodded and pulled a file out of his drawer. He passed it over his desk and I grabbed it. I started flipping through it as he spoke.

"All the disappearances happen in the same area but at different times of the day. We've checked all the security cameras within a mile radius but there's nothing there. One minute the person is there and then they walk through a place where the cameras can't see and the people don't show up again."

"Did you investigate the area they were disappearing from?" I asked, reading the file. I made sure to mentally note that there was a putrid smell recorded in the area.

"Of course," Vargas snapped, a obviously insulted.

"She was just asking," Dean said. "It's our job."

"Right," he said.

"Are there any witnesses that we can talk to? Somebody must have noticed that these people disappeared in the street randomly." Dean said.

"No witnesses." Vargas said. Dean and I sighed. It looked like we'd be watching the spot in the Impala for god knows how long.

"Are there any entrances to the sewers near this spot?" Dean asked. Vargas shook his head.

"All right," I said, standing up. We weren't going to get much more information. They didn't know anything. I took out my fake business card and made sure the name was right. I handed it to Vargas. "Make sure you call if you find out anything else."

"Aren't you going to give me the file back?" He asked. Dean and I turned to stare at him and he backed down. "We have it all in the database, anyway."

Dean and I left, with the file, and drove back to the motel.

"So maybe this thing can fly?" I said, following Dean into our room. "Since there's no video of them being snatched and taken away anywhere and there are no sewer entrances nearby."

"It's a possibility." Dean said. "We're looking for a flying stinky creature who likes to steal people."

I shrugged and grabbed my laptop and sat on our bed. "Shouldn't be that hard to figure out."

Dean started tugging at his tie and I was surprised he had lasted so long with it on. He grabbed some clothes out of his duffel and started to change. I whistled as he undid his belt and he laughed.

"You giving me a strip tease?" I asked, shutting my laptop a little so I could see him better. He grinned and started to undress a little slower. "Rawr."

He undid his jacket and dropped it on the floor and he snapped his belt after he took it off, throwing it on the floor too. When he unbuttoned his shirt he twirled it above his head and threw it at me. It landed right on my head and I pulled it off. It smelled amazing; like leather, nutmeg, _and_ his cologne. I held it to my nose and smiled into it as he kicked off his shoes and let his pants fall to the ground.

I wished I had some dollar bills on me to tuck into his boxers and I smirked as he got on the bed and started crawling towards me.

"You know there's a dress code." He said. I licked my lips and couldn't believe how amazingly sexy he was.

"Is there?" I asked. He set my laptop onto the nightstand and unbuttoned my jacket.

"You can't be dressed when I'm not." He said. He smirked as he rolled my jacket off my shoulders and tossed it behind him. "You know you were really cute today when you got all jealous."

I smiled. "Well she was a slut."

He laughed and kissed me. "I don't think she was a slut."

"You're defending her?" I pouted. He shook his head.

"Absolutely not." He said. "She was the biggest slut I've ever seen."

I made a whipped noise and he growled, tearing my shirt apart. I didn't care that a few buttons had flown off - I could sew them on later. I only cared about pressing my lips to his and where his hand was going.

He bit my lip as he unzipped my skirt and I shimmied out of it. I almost went cross-eyed when his hand slipped my underwear to the side and I gripped his shoulders tightly. He smirked against my lips and I reached my hand down to him to repay the favor. He bit down harder when he felt my hand and he ducked his head down beside mine as he moaned. I felt his hot breath on my neck as we both worked each other to finishing.

"Dean," I whimpered. He started kissing my neck and I cursed him mentally. He knew just the right spots, and this time he found it right under my ear.

When we finished we were both a panting, sweaty mess. He was too tired to move off of me and I was too tired to push him. He moved his head back above mine and kissed me sweetly on the lips.

"You make me nervous," he breathed. I smiled and cocked my head.

"Why?" I was just as quiet and breathless than he was.

"No girl has ever," he paused and shook his head to make himself focus. I giggled. "That quickly, ever."

"And that makes you nervous?" I asked. He nodded. I kissed up and down his jaw line and heard him gulp.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked. He finally pushed himself off of me and I cuddled up next to him. "Just because I'm curious, more than anything."

"Sure," I said.

"I just, you're so great at that," he said. I smirked and threw my leg over him and straddled him. He smirked right back.

"Likewise," I told him.

"How many guys have you been with?" He asked. I sat up a little, still straddling him.

"I don't think I could tell you," I said, honestly. I was trying to count in my head, but I had honestly lost count a while ago. I grinned when I thought of Tommy in Idaho; he had been one of the kinkier ones.

"Why? I won't get jealous. I just wanna know where you learned some of that stuff." I laughed.

"I honestly don't know," I told him, biting my lip. Would he be mad? "I got tested all the time, and I was always protected, but I couldn't tell you how many guys."

He frowned.

"Are you mad?" I asked. He smiled softly and shook his head. He pulled my arms so that I would lie down on top of him and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I folded my arms across his chest and rested my chin on top of my hands so I could still see his face.

"No, I'm not mad," he said. I raised an eyebrow and he laughed. "Honestly. You always save the best for last, right?"

"Well how many girls have you slept with?" I asked. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Good point." I wondered where I ranked in his line-up of girls. It made me tense slightly. "What are you thinking about?"

I sighed. "If any of them were better than me."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Do you want to know why?"

I nodded.

"Because I wasn't in love with them."

I bit my lip and stared at him in amusement and he stared, confusedly, right back.

"What?" He asked, whining a little. I let out a really unattractive snort of laughter.

"You are stupid corny sometimes," I snickered.

...

We finally got dressed and started to get to work. Dean was looking through my journal and I was searching on the internet on my laptop. Every once in a while Dean would annoyingly hum _Scarborough Fair_ and I'd find something to throw at him

"It helped us, didn't it?" I exclaimed after the last time, throwing a pen at him and hitting him in the head. I laughed.

"Yeah, okay, whatever." He said, rubbing his head. I rolled my eyes. He was so immature sometimes. He sighed and closed the journal. "We should stake out the place and see if we find anything. Maybe we'll catch whatever it is in action."

I bit my lip and paused. "I don't know. That seems like a bad idea."

"Do you have a different idea? This thing could be anything."

"Exactly, which means we don't know how to defend ourselves against it." I said.

"But we're not getting anywhere with this researching. Not even your oh-so-amazing journal full of folk lyrics," I turned to find something to throw but there wasn't anything within reach that would do minimal damage, "has something that even remotely sounds like what we might be dealing with."

"That's because we don't have any useful information to begin with." He nodded.

"Exactly," he mocked me. "So we're going to have to find our own information."

I sighed and nodded, closing my laptop and tucking it under my arm. "You're right."

Dean grinned smugly and I knew he'd be bringing that up for a while. What an ego that boy has.

...

We parked across the street from where all the disappearances have been happening and while Dean was watching the spot with his binoculars I continued to search on my laptop. I was searching through lore and legends about disappearances when I remembered that the file specifically noted that a putrid smell was left over after the person went missing so I added that into the search. I immediately found what we were looking for.

"Foul creatures with the heads of old women and the bodies, wings, beaks, and claws of birds. They can fly with the speed of the wind and their feathers, which cannot be pierced, serve as armor. They snatch up mortals and carry them to the underworld, leaving behind a sickening odor." I read. Dean looked up.

"That sounds about right, what is it?" He asked.

"A Harpy." Dean frowned and flipped through my journal.

"You have something in here about harpies." He said. I grinned and crossed my arms in a cocky manner.

"Well that's because I'm so amazing." He rolled his eyes at me, which was a rare occurrence but I couldn't help but laugh.

"The only way to kill them is through their head. Everything else is covered by the armor feathers." I nodded and got a little excited.

"I can use my crossbow!" I exclaimed, clapping slightly. I hadn't been able to use it in a really long time, sue me for being excited. Dean nodded and looked up at me.

"I think that's the only way we'll be able to get rid of this thing, if it is a Harpy." I sighed and sat back in my seat. I took a sip of my milkshake while Dean went to the trunk of the car to grab my crossbow and his sawed-off, just in case. We rolled down the windows, hoping to catch a whiff of any horrible odors before the Harpy showed up.

We sat in the car for hours and the sun was completely below the horizon. I was a little worried about getting the right shot from where we were since I hadn't had much practice. I turned to Dean.

"I have to move." He glanced at me quickly before looking back in his binoculars.

"You're that antsy?" I shook my head.

"I'm not going to be able to get a clear shot from here." I got out of the car and brought the duffel with my crossbow with me. Dean quickly hurried out of the car to stop me.

"No!" He said, grabbing my arm. I looked around, up high and found the perfect spot on top of a parking lot building. I gave Dean a look.

"I haven't used this thing in a while and it'll be damn near impossible for me to get a good shot at that thing from down here." He sighed and rubbed his face. He shook his head.

"I'll come with you." He said, grabbing his sawed-off. I rolled my eyes.

"It'll be smarter if you stay down here with the Impala." He really didn't look happy about this. I sighed and kissed him softly. "I'll be fine, I promise. Nothing will happen to me."

"We need walkie-talkies or something," He muttered. "Or a dog." He brought his hands down and put them on my shoulders, staring me straight in the eye. "You call me if _anything_ happens, all right? I mean _anything._"

I nodded. "I promise."

He kissed me again, harder than before, and he pulled away and got back into the car. He pulled out the second pair of binoculars for me and I grabbed them from him. I waved behind my back to him as I made my way to the top of the parking garage. I felt more comfortable trying to take a shot at the Harpy from up there. I was more liable to shoot an innocent bystander from the Impala and that was something that I would not be able to handle.

I found a perfect little cubby type space that I fit into and I set up my area and started watching the area without the binoculars. I knew Dean was probably killing himself for letting me go off on my own but we really didn't have a choice here.

I heard a scream and quickly lifted my crossbow as I started smelling a horrible odor. I saw the hideous creature swoop down and grab the person and I aimed for the aged head. I took my shot but missed and the arrow bounced off the Harpy's feathers.

"Shit," I reloaded my arrow but when I aimed there wasn't anything there. "Shit!"

My cell started vibrating and I pulled it out. "What?" I snapped.

"Woah, I was just calling to see if you hit it." Dean said. I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

"No," I said. "I had the perfect shot and I missed."

"It's all right," Dean said. He could probably tell I was pissed at myself. "Do you want to stake out longer?"

"Yes," I said. I was determined to shoot that disgusting creature if it was the last thing I did.

"All right, well I wasn't much help down here so I'm going to come up where you are, whether you like it or not." I agreed and hung up, setting the phone down beside me. I couldn't believe I missed that thing. Its ugly self was right there. _Right there_ and I missed. I stood up and kicked the concrete wall, cursing when it hurt a lot more than I thought it would.

"You okay?" I turned and saw Dean coming up the stairs on the far other side of the roof.

"Yeah, just pissed off at myself." I could see his smile and it helped soothe me a little.

I heard a shriek again and turned to look up only to see it was right above me.

"Rose!" Dean started yelling as the Harpy grabbed me by its talons and started to take off. I struggled, reaching out for Dean, but the sharp talons dug into my shoulders. "Rosemary!"

"Dean!"

The scene below me, including Dean, vanished. I looked around and groaned when the Harpy dropped me in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. I covered my nose at the horrible stench and started to gag and winced at the pain in my shoulders. Blood was flowing freely and it was almost impossible to put enough pressure on both the wounds. The Harpy shrieked again and took off, vanishing just like I saw it before.

I slowly searched around the room. It was too dark to really make anything out but from what I could tell of the stench this seemed to be where it had been living.

"Hello?" I called out, gagging on the smell. I pulled my sweatshirt over my nose. "Is there anyone here?"

Nobody answered.

...

...

**I'm sooo sorry that it's taken me forever to update! I don't really have an excuse other than my brother bought me the new Sims 3 expansion pack for my birthday and I've been having fun making Dean and Sam and playing the new Ghost Hunter profession. But, to make up for it, the first 3 readers to tell me where Dean's and Rose's fake FBI names came from will get to be a guest character in the NEXT chapter! You have to get both names right and you have to tell me their relationship with each other, AND you have to tell me the answer in a very lovely comment. Good luck and talk to you all soon!**

**-Erin**


	26. Here Lies Rosemary

**Chapter 26**

I felt my pockets for my cell phone but cursed when I remembered that I hadn't put it back in my pocket after Dean had called. I sat down on a crate and started to cry. I was pretty fucked. I didn't have a weapon and I didn't have a way to contact Dean. I was bleeding pretty heavily from two wounds and I had no clue where I was or where the Harpy had gone too.

"Hello?" I heard a small voice from behind me. I sniffled and rubbed my eyes, turning around to see who was there. It was a boy, a teenager. "Did it take you too?" He asked.

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I was uh, trying to keep it from taking other people."

"You did a good job," He said sarcastically. Great, just what I needed, to be stuck with an asshole kid.

"Yeah, obviously it backfired." I stood up and started looking around again. "But there's someone else out there looking for us. And now that the Harpy has taken me, he's going to be hell bent to kill the son-of-a-bitch."

"A Harpy?" He asked. I turned back to him and nodded.

"Yeah, has the body of an bird and the head of an old lady." I said. "I'm Rose, by the way."

"Nathan," he said, waving slightly.

"How long have you been here?" I asked. He sighed and rubbed his head. He kind of reminded me of Dean when he did that. "And how old are you?"

"I don't know how long I've been here, what is the date today?" He asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's the 20th of August." I said.

"I've been here since the 13th, I think." He said. "I'm 14, since you asked."

I nodded.

"Are there any others here?" I asked him. He nodded.

"There are seven others, downstairs." I followed him down the stairs that I hadn't seen before. My eyes had a hard time adjusting to the dark usually. And I was upset and injured, give me a break. It's hidden well.

I saw the group of people sitting around a fire they had built. Nathan pointed to the people as he said their names. "Natalie, Greg, Leish, Hailey, Corissa, Whitney and Constance. This is Rose. She came to save us."

I rolled my eyes and vaguely felt like punching the kid. Hailey smiled gently at me. She looked to be in her twenties. Whitney and Greg looked to be in their mid thirties. Leish, Natalie, Corissa and Constance were all around my age. Nathan was definitely the youngest.

"My friend will find us." I told them. They didn't seem to believe me. I sighed and sat down in the circle with them.

"She says it's called a Harpy." Nathan told the others. "It has the body of a bird and the head of an old lady."

"I call it disgusting and putrid," Leish said. I nodded.

"That works too," I told her. I started looking around this room, for anything to defend ourselves with. There was an old cloth in the corner and I walked over to it. After I ripped off a couple long pieces I tied them around each shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. "There's no way out?" I asked. None of the others seemed to have wounds from the harpy and I could only imagine it was because I had pissed it off by shooting at it.

"We looked. All entrances were blocked or caved in. We're on the fourth level now but we can't get down any farther and there isn't a way to get out a window without killing ourselves." Corissa said.

"How often does it come around? Does it hurt you guys?" Natalie shook her head.

"It comes only when it drops off another person. It doesn't touch us." I narrowed my eyes in thought.

"How often does it bring people?" I asked. Constance groaned.

"What is with all the questions? It's so random we don't know how often." She snapped. She must have been here the longest.

"It seems like at least every other day." Hailey said. She seemed to be the most cooperative.

"It took somebody, before it took me." I said. They shook their heads.

"Nobody came before you." Corissa said.

Maybe the Harpy didn't take that person because I shot at it. I didn't know anymore. I was too preoccupied with trying to come up with a plan. It seemed like many hours later before I stood up, determined to get us out of there.

I started rummaging through the garbage that was on the floor. There had to be something that we could use to attack it. I found a few crow bars and an old fire extinguisher.

"Well, we're getting out of here and we're taking that damn Harpy down." I told them. I managed to get a few of them to help me look for possible weapons, but Nathan and Constance didn't feel like bothering.

"So, who's your friend that's coming to get us?" Hailey asked as we broke away from the rest of the group a little.

"He's my boyfriend," I said. There was really no point in lying to these people. "This is what we do, for a living. We hunt supernatural creatures and get rid of them."

"All of them?" Corissa asked with wide eyes. I shrugged.

"At least the ones that are harming or killing people." I told her. "I've never met a nice supernatural being."

"How long have you done this?" Hailey asked.

"Since I was five." She looked at me, shocked. I smiled softly. "It's kind of a family business. Same with my boyfriend."

"Oh," she said. "I'm a writer so this is all really out of my realm."

"You all seem to be taking this well," I said. "Especially when I just told you what I do."

Leish shrugged. "After being snatched up from the street by that thing I'll believe anything."

"Same here," Natalie murmured.

"That's true, I guess." I said. I picked up a piece of metal pipe and walked over to one of the boarded up windows. I could see a little light peeking through the planks of wood. "Can someone get me one of the crowbars?"

Greg walked over and handed me one, holding on to the other. I started to pry off the boards so that I could see out and bring a little light into the room. Maybe someone would recognize where we were. Greg helped and we finally got the window free. I used the pipe to smash the window and the others all jumped at the sudden noise.

I looked out the window. I cursed mentally. We were in a huge abandoned building surrounded by hundred of storage boxes that went on forever.

"Does anyone recognize where we are?" I asked. Everyone crowded around the window to have a peek and a breath of fresh air.

"No," Whitney mumbled. The others all shook their heads. Constance was biting her lip and wouldn't move away from the window.

"Constance?" I asked. She glanced at me but kept her focus out the window.

"We're in Hell." She said. I laughed at the idea of it and shook my head.

"Trust me, we're not in Hell." I told her, looking over her shoulder. She shook her head and turned to stare at me. I took a step back; she was starting to creep me out a little.

"Wrong kind of Hell." She said. "This place has been abandoned since anyone can remember. Anybody who comes here is lost forever. You never come out of this place."

I was beginning to get a little frustrated. Did any of these people want to get out? I stuck my head out the window and looked down. It was very desolate, but it definitely looked manageable. I saw that there were fire escapes two levels down from us but there weren't any on the floor we were on. If we could get down at least one level then we'd be able to drop down out of a window onto the fire escape below.

But then where would we go from there? It was a maze out there.

"Where are we in accordance with Chicago?" I asked, hoping for a straight answer and a little less pessimism. Was that too much to ask for?

"We're still in Chicago," Constance said. "But your friend is never going to find us."

"Holy fucking shit!" I yelled. "What is wrong with you people? Don't you want to get out of here? Don't you want to at least try?"

"I do," Natalie said, stepping up. Greg nodded and Nathan stepped forward a little too as Hailey, Leish and Corissa all nodded. I turned to Whitney and Constance and gave them a look.

"You don't even want to try?" I asked. They exchanged looks but all they could do was shrug. I rolled my eyes and started to feel angry tears break through. I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Right, okay. Then you guys won't mind if we leave you here. Although, when we get out or get rescued I can't make any promises that we'll come back for you. I personally don't want to stay, because even though the Harpy hasn't bothered you yet, there's no guarantee that it won't at all."

I picked up the pipe and handed it to Nathan and grabbed the fire extinguisher and crow bar. I handed the extinguisher to Hailey and Greg had the other crow bar. Corissa, Natalie and Leish each grabbed other small parts of metal pipe. I walked over to the set of stairs that led downstairs but they were completely demolished. Only the first few steps were actually there. I looked at the others and then gauged how far down the drop would be. It would just about be the same as the drop out the window onto the fire escape.

"If we can jump down there's a fire escape that we can take all the way down." I said. The others nodded and I decided to go first. I kneeled down on the last stair available and dropped my crow bar. I turned and grabbed onto the step, lowering myself down until I was hanging and then dropped down all the way. Besides the pain in my shoulders and getting a painful shock in my feet from the landing, it wasn't so bad. I looked up at the others and nodded.

I ran over to the window that I approximated the fire escape to be below and started pulling off the boards. The others joined soon after. Greg tried to open the window but Hailey just pushed him aside and broke the window with the fire extinguisher. I took off my sweatshirt and set it on the bottom of the sill so nobody got cut and I tested out the fire escape. It seemed safe enough so the others followed out.

I paused and looked out so that I could see over all the storage boxes.

"Do any of you know which way is out?" I asked. They all shook their heads so I sighed. "I guess we're just going to have to wing it then."

I stared out at all the boxes and tried to memorize the fastest way to the perimeter of the maze of boxes and I hoped that I could find our way out. We made our way down and we started to walk through the maze.

"I can't believe those girls stayed." Greg said. I shook my head.

"Let's not worry about them." I said. A second later I heard the Harpy shriek. I stopped and looked up and around, holding up my crow bar. "Did you guys hear that?"

"I didn't hear anything," Nathan said. Neither did the others. We started walking on again but I paid more attention to our surroundings, trying to remember anything from the bird's eye view I had had before. I wondered how Dean was doing or if he had called John for help. I don't know what I would have done if Dean had been the one that the Harpy snatched.

The Harpy screeched again and everyone looked up.

"Okay," Leish said, "I definitely heard that."

I nodded.

"That's the Harpy." I moved closer to the boxes and motioned for the others to do the same. "Let's just stick really close together and stay near the boxes. If it gets close, aim for it's head."

It shrieked again, and it was definitely louder. We all looked up and saw the thing flying towards us with its talons open and ready to snatch one of us. I raised my crow bar and when the Harpy was close enough I started to swing at her head. It grabbed me by my shirt and I screamed as it flew over all the boxes. I saw one was open and the Harpy was flying towards it. I tried to wiggle my way out but it tossed me into the box and slammed the doors shut.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I pushed against the door but it wouldn't open. It wouldn't even budge. I couldn't see and everything I did in the box was echoed and magnified. I fell to the ground and tried to calm myself but it wasn't any use. I was freaking out. How would Dean or anybody ever find me? There must have been hundreds of thousands of boxes out there.

I needed Dean.

**5 hours passed**

I was enveloped in complete and total darkness. I felt my way around the inside but there wasn't anyone or anything in it beside me. I tried to push open the door but it wouldn't budge. I was starting to hyperventilate and being stuck in this box with limited oxygen was definitely doing a number on my nerves. I wondered how the others were doing or if the Harpy went back for them.

"Dean!" I screamed, banging on the walls. "Somebody!"

**7 hours passed**

It was beginning to get unbearably hot in the box. I was taking smaller breaths but it wasn't helping. I was dizzy, my throat hurt, I was nauseous and I just wanted Dean.

"Dean," I cried. My voice was cracking from screaming so much before. I had to save it in case somebody was out there looking for me. I wondered again what had happened to the others.

And what the hell was this Harpy doing? Were we its play things? Or were we its food? I didn't know anymore. I never knew anything to begin with. How many things were out there that we didn't know about? How many things were we going to be attacked by? So many times we've risked our lives without a solid plan or anything and look at what happened this time. I was separated from Dean and stuck in a box.

**5 hours passed**

I decided that if they ever find my body before I started to decompose, my grave will say this:

_Here lies Rosemary._

_Traveled the country her_

_whole, short life._

_Condemned to die_

_alone in a box._

I'm still working on it, but I think in time it'll be a masterpiece. Too bad I didn't have anything to write it down with.

**2 hours passed**

My eyes weren't any used to the darkness and I couldn't see my hand when it was right in front of my face. I was leaning against the door, sitting on the ground and banging against the wall in case someone was out there who could help.

I kept my eyes closed and I was imagining that I was in bed with Dean, the sunlight shining through the window and Dean's arms wrapped around me. He was keeping me safe. I knew Dean would never let anything happen to me.

I thought I heard somebody yelling far away but I was sure it was just my imagination. I would be sitting in this box, banging against the wall planning my own eulogy until I died. I was sure of it.

**8 hours passed**

_Here lies Rosemary_

_Helped many people_

_Was taken before her time_

_By a stupid bitchy, ugly, stinky ass, disgusting, annoying-as-hell, f-ing Harpy_

_Then left to rot in a storage box._

It was cooler in the box now which meant I'd been stuck in here all day. It had been a whole 24 hours since the harpy had taken me.

"Dean," my voice scratched out. I was so tired.

I stopped banging against the wall and rested my head back. I heard the Harpy shriek and I vaguely noticed that it sounded different than the normal shriek. It was probably because I'd been inside the box and because of everything else, but it sounded like the Harpy was in pain. I couldn't remember if I'd told the others that you had to aim for her head. I hoped that it was in pain. It deserved to be in pain. Stupid bitch.

I hoped they'd figure it out. I hoped that they would find me. I hated myself for hoping that I could find a pen and paper so I could write down what I want on my grave.

"Dean."

**16 hours passed**

I woke up with a start and looked around. It was still completely dark and I knew I was still in the box. I heard loud machinery and realized that had been what had woke me up.

Civilization!

I stood up and started banging on the walls again. I was so weak from dehydration and exhaustion and everything.

"Help!" I cried out. It wasn't loud at all because my voice was completely gone. It sounded more like mouse squeaks and whispers. "Help me! Please get me out of here!"

"Look man," I heard someone outside, far away. "We found all eight people who had gone missing."

"I'm telling you, my girlfriend was taken two nights ago and she's here too." My heart jumped. It was Dean. I knew it was Dean. Who the hell else could it be, seriously?

"Dean!" I cried. I barely made a sound. I started to sob in frustration. Why couldn't they hear me? Why hadn't I saved my voice.

"Don't you think she'd be in the building? Or walking around looking for a way out like the others?"

"I'm telling you, she's here!" Dean shouted, frustrated. I tried to take my shoe off but I fell to the ground. I continued to take my shoe off and I backed up until I felt the wall against my back. I threw my shoe as hard as I could against the other end and covered my ears at the echo.

"Did you hear that?" Dean asked. "Rose? Rose!"

"Dean!" I screamed as loud as I could and I was surprised when it finally made a noise loud enough for someone to hear. I felt my way around, still screaming his name, and started pounding against the doors. "God fucking dammit! Get me the fuck out of here!"

"She's in here." The other voice said.

"Rosie, just give us a second." Dean said on the other side.

"I don't have a fucking second!" I exclaimed, crying like crazy. "I've been stuck in this fucking box for ever and I want to get out!"

The doors finally opened and Dean rushed towards me, enveloping me in his arms. I threw my arms around him and sobbed into his neck. He slid down to the ground, keeping me in his lap, and he started to pull away but I wouldn't let go.

"You're okay." He whispered. "You're okay now, I promise. I'm not letting you go. I love you. I love you so much and I'm never letting you go."

...

...

**Congrats to Leish, Natalie and Corissa who are the guest characters of the chapter. I know they were small characters, but they were definitely more helpful than Whitney and Constance, don't ya think? Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa were the names that Rose used in the last chapter and if you don't know who they are I shake my head at you. I like to think that this was a pretty intense chapter. I had a pretty good time writing it :) Please leave me some lovely reviews. I haven't been getting as many lately and I'm going to give you all the benefit of the doubt and say it's because you're all off vacationing somewhere tropical. Hopefully I'll update again on Wednesday, but I'm going to be working on a project for this story that wasn't in the original storyline that I created. So if not on Wednesday, then next Sunday for sure. Hope to hear from you all before then :)**

**much love!**


	27. A Hunter's Job Never Ends

**Chapter 27**

Everybody had made it out all right. I was really the only one who had had any injuries but it was mostly bruises and dehydration besides the holes in my shoulders. But those are healing nicely, apparently.

As soon as the Harpy had disappeared with me in its clutches, Dean had rushed over to the police station and demanded that they send out search and rescue helicopters flying and they had seen Greg, Nathan, Hailey, Leish, Natalie and Corissa trying to find their way out after I had been taken by the Harpy again.

They had also been the ones to kill the Harpy. After it had disposed of me it went back for them. They had been waiting for it and started attacking it with the weapons that they had. Hailey had sprayed it with the fire extinguisher and then the others had beaten it with their pipes and crowbars when it was distracted.

When they were found by search and rescue, Dean had been in one of the helicopters. Can I digress and mention how seriously jealous I am that while I was stuck in a box, Dean was flying in a helicopter? Only he wasn't having as good a time as I would have; him being deathly afraid of flying and all that. Natalie suggested to the group that they keep the Harpy thing on the down-low but when Dean started asking about me they realized that he was my boyfriend and told him what happened. Then he demanded that search and rescue go through every single storage container until they found me.

"You okay?" Dean asked softly from his seat, glancing over at me before turning his attention back to the road. I nodded and smiled. I still didn't have my voice which was okay. We were headed to Santa Cruz, California so I had enough time to recuperate.

He reached over with his right hand and grabbed my left hand. I squeezed it gently, to let him know I was still there. He wasn't going to let me out of his sight for a really long time now, probably never if he had it his way. That was okay with me. The past few nights, or whenever I had fallen asleep, I had the same nightmare. I'd be in the storage box and nobody would come to save me. There was no chance in hell I was ever going in a dark, small enclosed space ever again. Spending more than a day in that box had made me claustrophobic, which was understandable. You try it and tell me how much you like it.

"We're here Rosie," Dean said gently, shaking me awake. I had just nodded off and didn't have the chance to dream of anything, thankfully. I stretched in my seat before looking out the window. Dean had found the cheapest motel right near the beach.

"What's the job?" I said, whispering. My throat was still out of whack but if I whispered then I'd probably be fine the next day. I got out of the car and welcomed the warm sun. I hoped we'd have enough time to just relax on the beach. Neither of us had beach wear, but we would definitely have to get some.

Dean smiled and came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He kissed my cheek. "There is no job."

I turned to look at him, confused. "Then why are we here?"

"We are taking a vacation." He said. I grinned.

"Seriously?" I asked, waiting for the joke or the punch line. In all my 20 years I'd never had a vacation and Dean had to be joking. There was no time in our line of work to take a break.

"Seriously." Dean said, grabbing my hand and leading me into the front office to check-in. The lady behind the counter looked genuinely nice.

"How can I help you today?" She said, looking up from her computer.

"One room, king-size bed." Dean said. She nodded and started typing things into her computer. I tuned them out and turned to look out the window to watch the waves crash in and out. I couldn't wait to get onto the beach.

Dean grabbed my hand again, this time he had a key in his other hand. He handed me the car keys and we stopped by the Impala to grab our bags.

"Wait here and I'll be right back," he said.

"Why?"

"Well, Rosemary," he said like he was explaining something to a three year old. I rolled my eyes. "If you want to go to the beach you'll need a swimsuit."

"I could just wear my underwear," I smirked and saw the gears turning in his head. He bit his lip and looked over my shoulder at the beach. When he saw how many people were there he shook his head.

"Nope, you are getting a swim suit. Probably a one piece." I laughed and kissed his cheek as he left to drop off the bags and came back quickly. We got back into the Impala and he started driving around looking for the nearest shopping center. He parked when we found an outlet and we decided to go into the store that was the closest to us.

They had a lot of options and Dean followed me as I started looking through the bikinis. Every now and then he'd hold one up but he was obviously thinking with his downstairs brain when he chose them.

"Why aren't you looking for trunks?" I asked.

"Because I have shorts that I can wear." He answered. I shrugged and found a cute orange and white polka dot bikini and went to try it on. Despite Dean's pleading for me to show him, I redressed and came out with the bikini in my hand.

"I like this one." I said with a smile. "And I think you'll like it too."

Dean took them from me and went to pay for them. It was ridiculous how much they were. I could have made my own but I guess it didn't really matter since we were scamming credit cards and shit.

When we got back to the motel we quickly changed and I put on one of Dean's large t-shirts over my swimsuit and found my old flip-flops at the bottom of my duffel. I giggled as we made our way to the beach. Dean was holding the towels and he spread them out on the sand.

"What's so funny?" He asked, sitting down on his. I sat down next to him.

"If your dad knew what we were doing he'd slaughter us." I told him. He smirked and chuckled.

"This is true. It's also why we're never going to tell him about it okay?" He said. I nodded and crossed my heart.

We stayed on the beach for a long time. After soaking up some sun on the beach we had eventually headed down to the water and splashed around in it. It was definitely relaxing and fun and we both needed it so badly.

When we got back to the motel later that night we were two shades darker and extremely tired. Dean got a little burnt on his shoulders but I had some Aloe Vera in the first aid kit. I gave him a nice massage with that. We ended up calling for Chinese delivery since we were too tired to even drive anywhere to eat.

We went to bed relaxed and happy and I couldn't remember the last time that had happened. I couldn't even recall any time it had ever happened. I didn't have any nightmares and I was sleeping so deeply I didn't have any sort of dream.

I woke up with a smile on my face to the smell of reheated Chinese food. I looked up and saw Dean sitting at the table with a pensive look on his face eating chow mien.

"What's up?" I asked. He seemed to notice I was awake only then.

"There's a ghost on the beach." He said. I got out of bed and plopped down on his lap, stealing his chow mien. "I thought a lady was trying to drown herself. I went down to the beach to try and help her."

I only just noticed that his hair was wet.

"What happened?" I asked. He shrugged.

"As soon as I swam out to where she was she disappeared." He said, taking the chow mien back. "I talked to the lady at the front desk. She said that it happens every night for a week every year."

"And I guess this is the week?" I asked. Dean nodded.

"Last night was the first night." I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I guess this means our vacation is over." I said.

"It doesn't have to be, we could just forget about her." I shook my head and pinched him. "Ow."

"You know we can't do that." I got up and started to get dressed. "What if she starts drowning people with her?"

Dean sighed and nodded again.

"Let's go down to the beach while it's still early and use the E.M.F. reader to see if we pick anything up." I nodded and slipped on some shorts and a shirt and my flip-flops and we headed out to the beach. We stopped at the Impala to get the reader and continued on down to where Dean first saw the lady on the shore.

The E.M.F. reader started beeping like crazy and Dean started smacking it against his hand.

"Damn thing," he cursed. "It so old. We need a new one."

"Where the hell are we going to get a new E.M.F. reader?" I asked sarcastically. "They don't exactly sell them at tourist shops."

Dean frowned in thought before smirking and turning to look at me. "Do you ever use your walkman anymore?"

My eyes opened wide in fear. I loved my walkman.

"You are not taking apart my walkman to make a new E.M.F. reader! I put my foot down." I dramatized stomping my foot so he would get the picture.

"Come on! It's not like they sell walkmans or cassettes anymore. It's the only way I know how to make the reader." He said. I shook my head.

"No." I said. He smiled and stepped closer to me. He smelled amazing and I knew he was trying to persuade me. He ducked his head down to mine but swerved down to my neck instead. I felt his hot breath and he started to play with my ear lobe on the other side. I closed my eyes and bit my lip to keep from moaning.

"Please," he asked. He was so quiet that I wouldn't have heard him if he wasn't as close as he was.

"No," I stammered. Damn him and his amazingly sexy and sadistic ways to get me to cave. "I hate you."

"No you don't," he chuckled. He kissed my neck and nibbled on the skin just the tiniest bit. He knew exactly how to drive me crazy.

"Only if I can listen to my music on your stereo whenever I want to." I said, finally caving. He pulled back and kissed my lips.

"Sure," I narrowed my eyes to make sure he wasn't lying. He laughed and held his hands up. "I'm serious. You only have like three cassettes and they aren't that bad."

"I have more than three." I said with my eyebrow raised. "I have Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, The Clash, Cheap Trick, Journey and the Ramones."

Dean grimaced and sighed heavily.

"You all ready agreed." I said, smirking. I started skipping back to the Impala. This was a great deal. I really never did listen to my walkman anymore anyway. "Oh, and I should probably mention that I have one guilty pleasure cassette."

"Which is?" He asked quickly. I could tell he was kicking himself in the face for making the agreement.

...

"You are my fire," I sang to the stereo while Dean started taking apart my walkman and the old E.M.F. Reader, "the one desire. Believe when I say I want it that way."

"Will you turn that shit down?" He yelled. I ignored him and started singing louder.

"But we are two worlds apart, can't reach to your heart," Yes, Backstreet Boys was my guilty pleasure, "when you say, that I want it that way."

Dean finally reached over and shut it off. I could help but laugh. Seriously, he brought it onto himself. What girl didn't have a guilty pleasure of a 90's boy band? Plus, Nick Carter is kinda my husband. As is Ben Affleck, but don't tell Dean.

Dean started putting the two electronics together to make a really janky looking E.M.F. reader. I tilted my head down and closed my eyes.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked, getting out of the car. I held up my finger to tell him to give me a minute. "Are you okay?"

"I was having a moment of silence for my walkman." I said, looking up again with a smirk. He rolled his eyes and motioned for me to hurry out of the car. We went back down to the beach and noticed more people were showing up. We ignored them and walked over to the where Dean had first seen her. The new reader was definitely picking something up.

"So what do we do?" I asked. Dean raised an eyebrow and glanced at me.

"Now we have to do some research. You know the drill." He said. I sighed dramatically and nodded. He grabbed my hand and I linked our fingers as we walked back to our motel.

"Yeah, I know. Just wishful thinking I guess." I said wistfully.

...

I won't bore you with the nitty-gritty details of all our research. We talked to the owner of the motel and she said that this had been happening for at least ten years. When we searched the database in the library we found that 12 years ago a woman had been thrown off the dock and had drowned in a really nasty storm.

When we talked to some of the locals they said that nobody had ever gotten hurt from the ghost. It just kept reliving its death every night for a week once a year. Dean thought that we should just leave it.

"It's not hurting anyone," he said as we sat in our motel room.

"But that person's spirit is dying over and over again." I argued. "You know that the spirits can feel strong emotions. That woman drowns 7 times every year. We have to help her move on."

"How?" Dean asked. "She was thrown over the dock in a storm. She died of natural causes."

I shook my head and reread the article about her death that we had printed.

"It never said it was because of the storm that she was thrown over. It just says she was thrown over and because of the storm she couldn't swim to shore." I said, pointing out where it said that to Dean. He sighed and reread the article again.

"Okay, then say somebody pushed her over," Dean said, "how the hell are we going to find out who it was that pushed her over?"

I rolled my eyes. "How do we ever figure this stuff out?"

I went over to my duffel and pulled out my professional clothes and my heels. When I noticed how old and how badly my shoes were falling apart I made a mental note to get new ones. I never realized I wore them that much. Dean groaned when I pulled out my State Marshall badge.

"Seriously?" Dean said. "This was going to be our vacation."

"I could always go alone," I said, smiling. Everything that had happened with the Harpy was still fresh in both our minds and I felt kind of guilty pulling that card. I only did it because I _didn't_ want to go alone and I wanted him to come with me. He shook his head, glaring at me slightly before getting out his own professional clothes and badge.

...

The ghost's name was Amy Walker and we found out that her husband, Thomas Walker, still lived in Santa Cruz with their now 13 year old daughter, Katherine. We decided to start there.

Dean knocked on his door and a young girl, probably Katherine, opened it. She looked between the two of us.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Katherine," a man called from behind her, "who is it?"

"I'm Ginger and this is Fred," I said. Dean always hated when I beat him to our names. I liked coming up with new identities for us. "We're State Marshalls and we'd like to talk to you about Amy Walker's death."

Thomas came up behind his daughter.

"That happened over a decade ago." He said, obviously upset. "Why are you bringing this up now?"

"We've found some evidence that indicates something else happened that night." Dean said. "Something that tells us she wasn't just thrown over the dock by the storm."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Thomas said. He was getting angry. He gently pushed Katherine away from the door. "We've put this behind us. I got remarried and we've moved on. Please leave us alone."

He shut the door and we started walking back to the Impala.

"She had a sister, Mary Williams," I said. Dean nodded and started the engine.

"Where does she live?" I told him and we ended up in front of her house a few minutes later. I knocked on the door this time.

"Hi, I'm Fred and this is Ginger," Dean said.

"We're State Marshalls and we'd like to ask a few questions about your sister's death." Her eyes opened wide but she nodded and let us into her home. She led us to her living room and motioned for us to sit.

"Why?" She asked.

"We were going over the files and some things just didn't add up for us." I said. She nodded. "Can you tell us what happened?"

She shrugged. "I wasn't there. I told them they were crazy for going."

"Going where?" Dean asked.

"To the dock." She answered. "Tom wanted to go but she didn't want to. We both knew it was suicidal but Tom really, really wanted to go. They gave me Katie to babysit and when Tom picked her up the next day he said that she had gotten blown over the dock and drowned."

"Was anything happening at the dock? Why did Tom want to go?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"There wasn't anything. Tom had said something about the moon, but it wasn't even full that night."

"Would you say that maybe he had something to do with Amy's death?" Dean asked as gently as he could. Sometimes it wasn't ever gentle enough.

"No," she said. She started to avert her eyes before she looked back at us. "Okay, promise to keep this between us?"

Dean and I both nodded.

"Katie had been really sick." She said. "She wasn't supposed to recover. All the doctors Amy and Thomas took her to, told them that she would die before she turned two."

"Okay," Dean said. We both weren't sure where this was going.

"Tom had shown me this book the week before. He said it was full of poems but when I read it, it was all in Latin." Dean and I glanced at each other. Witchcraft. "After Amy died Katie was miraculously better. She hasn't gotten sick since then, ever."

"All right," I said, standing up. "We'll leave you for now."

"We might come back, with more questions." Dean said. She nodded and showed us out. Dean started to undo his tie as soon as we were back in the Impala.

"So what do you think? Daddy loves his daughter so much that he'd do anything, even sacrifice his wife for her?" I asked. Dean nodded and glanced at me before turning the key to start the engine.

"Sounds about right." He started to drive back to the motel. "We need a way to search the house, make sure it is witchcraft."

"Well, I bet you Tom works during the day and Katie goes out with her friends while he's gone." I checked the time. It was almost five in the afternoon. "I'd say we have between ten and three tomorrow to search the house."

"But here's the thing," Dean said. "Even if we find a book of witchcraft, how are we gonna get rid of her spirit?"

I stopped to think about it. I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe just us figuring out the truth will set her spirit free."

"Maybe we'll have to burn her bones if it doesn't," Dean said. "She was buried, after all."

"And here's another question," I said, remembering what Mary had said about Katherine. "If we find the book we'll probably have to find the hex bag Thomas made for this whole deal and burn it. What'll happen to Katherine? He did all this to keep her alive."

Dean sighed as he pulled into the motel parking lot and parked in front of our room. He looked over at me. "I don't know."

...

Dean was watching the street while I picked the lock at the Walker house. We had watched Thomas and his wife leave this morning and Katie had just left with her friends so we had at least a couple hours before any of the three got home. I grinned as I swung the door open and we quickly went inside, closing the door behind us.

"Okay, I'll take the upstairs, you take the downstairs," Dean said. I glared at him.

"Who made you the boss?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm older!" He said. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him. He groaned. "Fine, if you want to take the upstairs, go for it."

I grinned and reached up to give him a light peck on the lips before going past him and up the stairs. I started with the first door on my right which was Katherine's bedroom. It was facing the street so I was careful not to be seen by anyone through the window. I checked through her desk and under her bed. Even between the mattresses. I looked through her closet and her dresser but this girl didn't have any hex bags in her room.

I decided to check Thomas' bedroom. I checked all the same places before moving over to the bureau. The first drawer I opened and I found a hex bag. I opened it to make sure. It was definitely a witchcraft hex bag. I continued looking, just in case.

"Holy shit," I whispered. The last drawer I opened and there were seven more hex bags. I quickly snatched them all up and went back downstairs to Dean.

"You'll never guess what I found, Rose," he said, coming around the corner.

"I think I have a good idea." I told him. He stopped when he saw the pile of hex bags I was carrying and then looked down at all of his. He cursed.

"What are we going to do?" He asked. I bit my lip and looked around in thought.

"This is a pretty nice place," I said. Dean nodded, obviously confused at where I was going. "And they seem to be pretty well off."

Dean raised an eyebrow, finally catching my drift.

"Arson Ms. Bennett?" He asked. I grinned and nodded.

"Arson, my dear Mr. Winchester."

...

We made a pile of all the hex bags we could find (we had found six more on top of the ones we had found all ready) and the two books we discovered full of charms and spells and such. I had found a box of lighter fluid and started spraying it everywhere, being careful not to get any on myself or Dean.

Dean lit a match and threw it on the pile and we quickly left through the backyard in case anyone might see us. We high tailed it back to the Impala and we watched as the house started going up in flames. Nobody seemed to notice that a house was burning and Dean and I didn't hear sirens until the second story was about ready to cave in. We had stayed to watch to make sure that everything burned but as soon as we heard the sirens we started the Impala and drove away.

It was about a quarter to three and we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. We stayed for the sunset and we waited to see if Amy's ghost would appear.

"This was a good vacation," I said, leaning my head on Dean's shoulder as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. Dean wrapped his arm around my shoulders and chuckled.

"I'm glad you think so, Rose." He said. "It's probably the only vacation we'll ever get."

Amy's ghost didn't appear again but Dean and I went to her grave and salted and burned her remains anyway. There was really no such thing as being too careful in our job. As we drove away from Santa Cruz we were sure that Amy Walker's spirit wouldn't have to relive her death anymore.

...

...

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all the amazing reviews :) Sorry this chapter is a little late, I've been a little preoccupied with packing for my awesome trip to St. Thomas. Which leads me to some bad news for you guys: if you know anything about St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands, then you might know that most people who have internet still only have dial-up, which is the case for my grandpa's house. Sadly this means that I won't be able to update until I come back home July 14th. Unless I get another chapter edited for you before I leave for the airport at 2 in the morning Wednesday (not likely since the next chapter hasn't been written yet), this'll be the last chapter you guys have until then. But that doesn't mean that I won't be writing. I'm bringing my laptop with me and I'll be writing as much as I can on my unbelievably long flight there and back, and possibly some in between. **

**So please, please leave me some reviews for me to read when I come back home. It'll be much appreciated and I promise I'll have a really great chapter to post when I return. :) **

**-Erin**


	28. Double, Double Toil and Trouble

**Chapter 28**

**November 2004**

**Brooklyn, New York**

All the way on the other side of the country and the weather was completely different. I was bundled up as warm as I could get, since it was snowing and all. I was wearing my heaviest pair of jeans with my heaviest pair of stockings underneath and a pair of knee-highs. Not to mention I looked like I was 30 pounds heavier than I actually was because of all the shirts and sweatshirts I had layered underneath Dean's leather jacket that I stole from him. And I still felt like my ass was going to freeze off. If I ever had the chance to settle down in one place for the rest of my life I can promise you that it will be back in Santa Cruz, or somewhere like it.

Dean was still grumbling that I had high jacked his jacket as we got out of the Impala and ran into the bar across the street from where we parked. A couple beers and a shot or two of something stronger would definitely warm us up. Also John had called and told us that we could find out about a new job here, so it wasn't all pleasure – surprise, surprise.

"Get a table for us and I'll be there in a sec with some drinks," Dean told me, motioning towards a few tables in the corner. A girl who looked to be my age or a little older, possibly, was sitting on a stool on a platform on the other side of the bar playing her guitar and singing softly over the chatter and I decided to sit nearby her. I'm a sucker for good ambiance. I couldn't tell what she was singing (some classic rock covers, maybe Radiohead) but I could tell she was really good. It gave me goose-bumps as I listened.

Dean came by with two giant mugs of beer and sat down across from me, placing one in front of me. I took a giant gulp out of it and let it start to warm me from within.

"I asked the bartender if he knew what was up but he doesn't know anything other than what's in the newspapers." Dean said before he drank from his own mug. I nodded for a second and then shook my head.

"I'm not even really sure what is in the newspapers. You talked to your dad, not me. Why exactly are we here?" I said. Dean chuckled and shook his head.

"There's something going on at a local theatre, according to Dad some child actors had gone missing for a short period of time and then they turn up a couple days later somewhere in the theatre, dead." The girl up on the platform skipped a chord and fumbled with her strings for a second. I glanced up at her for a second but she was hiding behind a curtain of her curly dark hair as she tried to pick back up.

"Only child actors?" I asked Dean, turning back to him for some more clarification. He nodded over the brim of his beer mug.

"Yeah," he said, then paused to let out a large belch. I gave him a disgusted look and he gave me an innocent look right back. "What?"

I sighed and shook my head.

"What else?" I asked. Dean shrugged.

"Nothing, other than the fact that they all appeared to have died by drowning but each were found in the same dressing room."

Dean and I finished our drinks and ordered another round. By the time we were finished with those most of the crowd had dissipated and we were basically the only ones left. Even the chick playing guitar had gotten up to leave at some point. We decided it was time to take our leave, mainly because the bartender was giving us nasty looks, and find a crappy motel for the night.

Snow had begun to fall again so Dean had me wait just inside the entrance while he warmed up the car and brought it around the front.

"Are you a police officer?" I heard from behind me. I jumped in surprise and turned around to see the guitar chick, regarding me with cold blue eyes. I glanced around unsurely.

"Uh, no?" I said, more of a question than an answer.

"Detective?" I shook my head. She stepped closer and dropped her voice.

"A pedophile?" I opened my mouth in shock and glared at her.

"NO!" I snapped, turning away. I was just about ready to face the freezing cold outside, since the temperature had dropped significantly because of this chick's glare.

"Then why were you two talking about the deaths at the Gavrila Memorial Theatre?" She asked, staring me down. I opened my mouth and tried to think of an answer to tell her but I couldn't come up with anything.

I heard the Impala's horn and turned to see Dean waving me on. I looked back at the guitar chick with her arms crossed, waiting for an answer. "It's hard to explain," I said finally and then turned away and quickly made my way to the car.

"What was that about?" Dean asked. I shrugged and urged him to drive away.

...

The next day we found ourselves at the Gavrila Memorial Theatre dressed up in our suits with one of our many FBI fakes and introduced ourselves to the manager of the theatre. I silently, and bitterly, thanked the girl who accused me of being a pedophile because Dean and I hadn't known which theatre the victims were from until she had mentioned it the night before.

"I'm Agent Tull," Dean said, shaking the old man's hand, "and this is my partner Agent Petty."

"I'm Dewy Henderson, welcome to my theatre!" He said, waving his arm around the front house with a big smile. I raised an eyebrow.

"You do realize we're here in regard to the multiple homicides of minors, not to see the latest production of Peter Pan, right?" I asked. Dewy's smile dropped instantly and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

"Uh, well, yes I kind of figured that." He muttered, suddenly very nervous. "It's nothing I'm proud of, but it's best to keep up a positive attitude. Especially since I work with so many children in our company and I don't want them to realize how scared I am."

I nodded, understandably.

"We were wondering if you could give us a tour," Dean said. "Show us where the bodies have been found and let us do a little investigative work."

Dewy checked the big clock that had been painted on the sloped ceiling above the entrance. The smallest hand that ticked every second made me realize that it was a real working clock.

"Uh, well, I've got a rehearsal for our Christmas play coming in an hour," he started.

"Then we'd be more than happy to go off on our own," Dean said. It was obvious that that was the last thing that Dewy wanted.

"How about I show you where the bodies were found and then you can do your investigative work by yourselves. I just need you guys to be low key when the kids get here. They are all ready pretty shaken up by everything." Dean and I nodded and followed Dewy as he led us through a set of double doors and into the auditorium. I was amazed by how enormous it all was since the building from the outside didn't look that big at all.

Dewy led us backstage to the many dressing rooms and stopped in front of the door with police tape crisscrossed across the front.

"All three of the kids were found in this room, in the same position and place." He said. He hesitated before pulling a key out of his pocket and handing it to Dean. "You'll have to forgive me, but I will not step foot in that room. Any questions you want to ask me, you'll have to ask me now, or later."

"Why haven't you shut down the company?" I asked. "Why aren't any of the other actors or stage crew being questioned by police?"

"Everyone was subjected to a polygraph and there was no trace at all of any of the cast or crew on the children." He paused and I swear there were tears in his eyes. "This is all I have. I live in the apartment above the theatre, and if I closed it down then I wouldn't be able to afford the space. I started this place for underprivileged children who normally wouldn't be given a chance. All the crew and most of the adults are all volunteers. We keep this going for the children."

"Even when children are the only victims?" Dean asked. Dewy glared at him.

"You've never had children, have you?" Dean sighed and shook his head. I could tell that Dean didn't really think that this guy had ever had children, either. "If you need me, I'll be in the front of the house."

Dewy promptly turned around and left us to our business. As soon as we were sure he wouldn't head back for something Dean opened the door and I took out our E.M.F. reader from my backpack. We ducked under the crime scene tape and Dean closed the door behind us. I turned on the reader and started to go around the room. Nothing was striking me or the reader as supernatural.

"Rose, come here," Dean said from across the room. I turned to see him scrutinizing the air vent. When I came closer I noticed what he was watching; water was dripping slowly from the lower right corner of the vent and into a puddle on the ground. "That's not supposed to happen."

I held my hand in front of the vent but couldn't feel any air coming out. The other vent across the room was above what I assumed to be the make-up station because of all the mirrors and lights. There were ribbons tied to the vent and it was obvious that that vent was working because the ribbons were blowing from the air.

"There's no air coming from this vent," I said. Dean nodded.

I waved the meter in front of the vent and sure enough it went off. Dean pulled out his pocket knife and starting undoing the screws so he could pull off the vent cover. Nothing was inside the vent; in fact it didn't even look like the vent went anywhere. It was an air vent for show only.

"Weird," I muttered. I pulled out a flashlight from my backpack and motioned for Dean to give me a boost up as I shined it inside the vent. It only went about three feet in before it just stopped. It didn't go up or anywhere. "So, what's the point of a fake air vent?"

Dean shrugged. "Health codes, maybe?"

I moved to get down but something caught my eye. I pointed the flashlight and reached inside the vent, feeling something gooey. I pulled it out and rubbed the black ooze between my fingers before bringing it up to my nose to smell. I crinkled my nose in disgust.

"It's ectoplasm," I said, cursing to myself. Dean let out an exasperated sigh and put me down so he could take a look for himself. He nodded in agreement.

"Time to do some more digging around then," he said. "We'll need to go to the library and see if we can find out what happened here."

"Maybe I should stay behind and keep an eye on Dewy." I said. I really didn't want to go back out into the cold so quickly; it was pretty warm in the theatre, and I wasn't wearing nearly as much clothes as I should be for this weather. As nice as these professional clothes looked, they weren't really built for keeping you warm in the snow. "I'll see if I can get some more information from him; he seemed to know a lot more than he was letting on."

"All right," Dean said. He put the cover back on the vent and we made our way out of the room, taking care to lock the door behind us. Dean handed me the key and I stuck it in the pocket of my coat. We walked back to the front of the house and I watched him leave the building.

"What are you doing here?" I heard someone snap from behind me. I turned around quickly and realized it was guitar chick.

_Really?_, I thought to myself. I sighed and pulled out my fake FBI badge.

"I'm Agent Petty and I'm investigating the murders of the three minors that turned up in this theatre." I said coolly. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Amber, go to your rehearsal." She said. I looked at her in confusion until I realized she was talking to a small girl hiding behind her. I hadn't noticed her before. The girl, Amber, was the spitting image of the guitar chick only she looked like she was only five.

"Are you coming Shell?" She asked quietly. 'Shell' nodded down at Amber and the girl smiled and skipped through the open doors into the auditorium with the other actors who had shown up while Dean and I were investigating.

"Your daughter?" I asked. She glared at me and marched up as close to me as she could; I could feel the tip of her nose against mine. She poked me hard right under my collarbone and I had to step back from the force. I rubbed the spot with a grimace. "Ow,"

"Who are you?" She asked. I narrowed my eyes.

"My name is Rosemary Petty and I am a federal agent. You'll do kindly not to touch me again or else I could have you arrested for assaulting a fed. You wouldn't want that, now would you?" I asked viciously. I was just about done with her popping up out of nowhere and making absurd accusations.

She lost her edge for a moment when she heard the words 'assault' and 'arrested' and I watched her glance into the auditorium.

"I'm only here to help. My partner and I came here to find the killer and stop him from killing again." I said more softly. She nodded and sniffed.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I'm just on edge here. My little sister is the only family I have anymore and we take care of each other. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her."

I nodded in understanding.

"Maybe you could answer a few questions for me," I said, motioning towards the auditorium. She led the way inside and we found a couple seats in the far back, so we wouldn't disturb the rehearsal. I took in the scene before me. There were at least seven kids who were on the stage acting and I could see even more lingering with a few adults backstage. It was surprising to see how many kids were still here working after everything going on.

"You probably think we're all crazy for letting the kids still work here," she said, watching me. I hesitated before nodding.

"It does seem like a huge liability." I said. She nodded.

"But in this neighborhood," she said, trailing off. "There's so much that could happen to these kids outside of the theatre that most of us feel like they are still safer in here. You have to understand that none of the kidnappings have happened when there are adults around. And there are always adults around. It happens when the kids get bored and go wandering around the theatre backstage and up on the catwalk and down in the basement."

"And there weren't any adults watching them?" I had to ask. She sighed.

"It's hard to keep an eye on every kid in the theatre when the adults have their own jobs to do, as well. They're all actors or they work backstage. And after Emmy, the first kid, Dewy started locking all the entrances into the theatre whenever we had rehearsals or performances. There's also a check-in/check-out sheet that the kids have to sign whenever they go off somewhere unsupervised."

"Who checks the locks and the in/out sheet? Do they check it periodically?" I asked.

"The stage manager, a girl named Anna, she checks the in/out sheet every hour she's on duty and she checks the locks before each rehearsal. She's been really good about it and she never forgets." She pointed to the front where two people, a man and a woman, were sitting at a very oddly placed table. "That's Anna and the director, Earl. The in/out sheet is on the table and the kids are really good about signing it. All three kids who had been abducted had signed out, but they never got the chance to sign back in."

I nodded. They did take every precaution that they could to ensure safety in their theatre. And from what 'Shell' told me about the locks and everything, it was obvious why they were so scared. There's no way a human being could get into the theatre unless they were part of cast/crew but to their knowledge someone was still able to get it.

But it wasn't someone anymore. It was something. A seriously pissed off spirit.

"What can you tell me about this theatre?" I asked her.

"Uh, well, like what?" She asked. I shrugged, seeming nonchalant.

"Any urban legends or anything? I've noticed that all theatres like this seem to have one." If she was confused by my question and the topic, she didn't show it.

"Not that I know of. I don't really know anything about the theatre. You'd have to ask some of the crew members or Dewey." I nodded. I was about to ask another question about what play they were doing (spirits in theatres were just as dramatic as the actors, and they were usually really touchy about things like that) when my cell phone started vibrating. I pulled it out and got a text from Dean.

_Got in touch with medical examiner. We're mtg him at morgue. Pick you up in 5._

I cringed slightly. Seeing the dead bodies of adults was one thing but I don't know if I could handle seeing three dead children all lined up in a row.

"Got to go?" Guitar girl asked. I looked up from my phone and nodded.

"Can I get your information so I can call if I have any more questions?" I asked. She nodded and pulled out an old receipt from her purse and a pen. She scribbled down her name and number and handed the receipt to me. I glanced down at it – Shelby Casio #555-2345. "When's the next rehearsal?"

"Tomorrow, same time." She said. I nodded and got up, waving at her slightly.

"I'll get in touch, Shelby." I told her. She smiled and nodded before turning her attention to her sister up on the stage. I turned and left.

"Hey," Shelby said suddenly. I turned back to her. "I'm sorry about calling you a pedophile the other night. I'm just really protective, and you can never be too sure nowadays."

I nodded with a smile. "I understand," I told her. I left the auditorium and felt my phone vibrate in my hands.

_I'm outside._ I left the warmth of the theatre with a silent promise to Shelby and her sister. We'd figure out where this spirit was and what its problem was as quickly as we could. And then… burn, baby, burn.

...

...

**I'm SO sorry about taking so long to update. There was an excuse, but then I had just gotten lazy after I fixed the excuse. When I got to my grandpa's house a bunch of the keys on my laptop stopped working so I didn't get any writing done there. Then when I got home more of the keys stopped working. Anyway, I went and bought a wireless keyboard and started to write and just took forever to write this chapter. **

**Also, I was a little disappointed by how few reviews I had gotten for my last chapter :( I was expecting some more. I'd like to thank everyone who subscribed to the story and added it to their favorites after the last chapter, but a bunch of you didn't leave reviews. I dunno, I guess I'm kind of a hypocrite because I don't leave nearly as many reviews as I should. **

**So please, please, please leave me some good reviews for this chapter and I'm busy writing the next chapter which I will update as soon as I finish. Maybe it'll be done for tonight, since I kind of owe it to you guys :) Hey, do any of you guys know of a good Sam/OC fic? I've been overdosing in Dean and I feel like I need a little bit of his younger brother.**

**Love you guys!**

**-Erin**


	29. Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

**Chapter 29**

The whole 15 minute drive from the theatre to the morgue I was thinking about the tiny corpses lying in a row under the harsh light of the chilly autopsy room. I didn't know why this was affecting me so much. When I had still had the aspirations of going to college with Sam, I had always dreamed of being a nurse. That had been a dream of mine since I was 13, which was why John had bought me the gigantic _Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body_ when I started high school; because he figured he could use this interest of mine for hunting purposes. I was, essentially, the 'army medic'.

He had snuck me into so many autopsy rooms to get my opinions on corpses from the supernatural standpoint when I was in high school and I'd seen many, many more since then. But none of them had been minors; none of them had been kids. I didn't know when I had grown such an affinity to children.

"All right," Dean said as we pulled into the parking lot. He quickly found a free spot as close to the entrance as possible and swung the Impala into the space before killing the engine. "Let's get this over with."

"I think you're going to have to go in there alone," I told him. He turned to look at me curiously.

"Why?" He asked shortly.

"I'm having trouble getting over the fact that it's kids in there." I said. Dean put his hands back on the steering wheel and tapped his fingers against the leather.

"Well, don't think of them as kids." He said. I raised an eyebrow and narrowed my eyes. Until I realized how stupid I looked. Instead I sat straight in my seat and crossed my arms.

"Then tell me how the hell I should think of them." I snapped. A blank look came over his face and he turned to look out the windshield. He took a moment to think of something and then turned his head back to look at me, taking his hands off the wheel.

"Think of them as little people." He said as if it was simple. I gave him my crazy look again and shook my head.

"They're _kids_, Dean, not midgets." He sighed and got out of the car and made his way over to my side. He opened the door for me and stared down at me as I stared right back. He sighed and shook his head.

"Look, are you going to come in or not?" He asked. I shook my head and he sighed again. "All right then, you leave me to choice."

He looked around to make sure that no one would hear what he had to say next and then he kneeled down closer to me. "I _need _you to come in with me, Rose. I can't do this without you."

I stared at him for a moment before a smile cracked on my face. Damn him. He knew that saying something that could be subjectively seen as a CFM (chick-flick moment) could make me do practically anything. He didn't do it often but when he did he knew the exact things to say.

He smiled back and grabbed my backpack from my feet as I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. As we walked up to the entrance I realized that carrying my old, black, corduroy backpack from high school probably made our fake credibility questionable but I didn't really give a damn. I'd be damned if I had to start carrying around a briefcase.

...

"Here they are," Dr. Ryce said as he pulled the last occupied gurney out of it's personal refrigerated box. I grabbed one of the clipboards out of his hands and started flipping through the pages so I didn't keep staring at the gurneys.

"How exactly did they die?" I asked.

"Well, seemingly by drowning." I raised an eyebrow and looked up at him curiously.

"Seemingly?" I asked, hoping for clarification. He nodded.

"Well, as you can see in the results of the standard tests we did, their blood acid-base balance was stable and there were no signs of water in the lungs. All their electrolyte levels were normal and their kidney function didn't indicate that they drowned."

"Wouldn't that happen if they dry-drowned?" I asked. Dry-drowning was when somebody inhaled a little bit of water in their lungs. It could be fatal and it could explain possibly how the kids died. Dr. Ryce shook his head.

"There would still be evidence of excess water in their lungs, but there wasn't any. We opened up their lungs and water should have spilled out. I'm telling you, there was no water." I frowned, completely confused.

"Was there anything else abnormal during the autopsy?" Dean asked, clearing his throat. I may know more about this stuff than him, but he's smart enough to understand exactly what this could mean; phantom water.

"Well," he hesitated. "There was something, but there wasn't anything I could make of it."

"Can we see?" I asked. He nodded and went over to the cooler box with a clear glass door. I saw him pass over a bunch of blood vials and he picked up three different vials that were stored in the back. He closed the door and came back over to us, handing each of us a vial and then preparing a slide with the third. I only need one look at the substance inside my vial to know what it was.

"I've never seen anything like this." He said as he put the slide under his microscope. He picked up a remote and used it to turn on a projector which shined and image what was shown on the telescope.

"Where'd you find it?" Dean asked with a flat expression. I could tell that he knew what it was as well.

"In their lungs."

...

"This isn't good Dean," I muttered as I crossed my arms and followed him out the door to the Impala. "First we find ectoplasm in the room where they all show up dead days after their kidnapping and then the doctor finds some in their lungs."

"I never came across any deaths that happened in the theatre," Dean said as he started the car.

"We should go back to the theatre and talk to Dewey. I'm sure he knows more than he was letting on. I mean, did you see how badly he was sweating?" I asked. Dean cringed but nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said. "Does that guy freak you out, too? Or is it just me?"

"No he kinda gives me the creeps, too." I admitted. He reminded me of this gross history teacher I had once in sophomore year. I forget which high school it was at.

"It's definitely a pissed off spirit if there's ectoplasm in their lungs." Dean said as he parked near the theatre. We walked around the corner and we stopped in surprise when we noticed police line blocking the entrance. My heart dropped.

Had another kid been taken? That's the last thing I had expected to happen. We quickly made our way over and flashed our fake badges to one of the cops and he let us slip under the police line. I led the way inside and looked around for a clue as to what happened.

"I can't believe she's gone!" I heard a woman sob.

"Ma'am, please," I turned and saw Shelby sitting on a couch, hunched over her lap with her head in her hands. The young cop next to her seemed really uncomfortable as he tried to figure out what to do. I made my way over to them and figured Dean was following behind.

"I'll take it from here, you go check the perimeter." I told the young cop. He gave me a relieved look and quickly left. I sat down beside Shelby on the couch and Dean pulled over a chair and sat in front of us.

"Shelby," I said softly, "this is my partner, Dean. Can you tell me what happened?"

She was starting to hyperventilate a little from crying so hard but she tried to take deep breaths.

"I was kni-knitting and s-she was there s-still," she broke off and I rubbed her back soothingly.

"Just take a deep breath," I told her. Dean cleared his throat lightly and I looked up at him. He motioned over towards a couple people being questioned and I nodded before he left. Shelby had calmed down enough to sit up and be able to talk without any trouble.

"After you left I took out the scarf I was knitting and watched her for a moment. Then I started knitting and didn't see her sign out for the bathroom. I usually always go with her whenever she signs out for somewhere. And when I looked up again I didn't see her, so I checked the list and saw that she had been gone for half an hour." Her face got all red in anger. "The stage manager didn't remember to check the list."

"Did you check the bathrooms?" I asked. She glared at me.

"Of course I checked the bathrooms!" She snapped. "I checked every frikkin' bathroom in this place, even Dewey's upstairs."

I nodded, not taking offense to her snapping at me. I'd probably be the same way if I was in her place.

"The cops all checked everywhere. There's no signs of her or any sign of a struggle anywhere."

"Can I ask you a couple weird questions?" I asked her. She rubbed her face but nodded.

"Do you know about anyone from years ago who might have died in this theatre? Or any ghost stories about it?" I asked. She stared at me like I was crazy.

"My little sister is kidnapped and might possibly show up dead in a few days and you're asking me about ghost stories?" She asked. I nodded.

"It may not seem like it to you, but this information could be crucial to finding your sister, Amber." She stared at me for a second longer before she sighed in aggravation.

"Uh, yeah, actually." She said after thinking for a moment.

"What do you know?" I asked.

"Well, there were a few that I don't really know about, mostly scattered stage crew members in bad accidents and there's a story about the theatre's ghost lady who wanders the halls at night, but there's one that always freaked me out when I heard the story." She said. "Like, 50 years ago there was this lady who acted in the company but she wasn't any good. She always tried out but she only ever got understudy roles."

I couldn't help but think how this would have anything to do with murdering children.

"Well, she was kind of… unhinged, I guess." Shelby said.

"Crazy?" I asked. Shelby nodded.

"Yeah, basically psychotic. She always had a bunch of boyfriends and slept with a bunch of guys but she was totally in love with one of the lead actors. He was completely stuck in his arrogant world and never gave her the time of day. She would always send him flowers and creepy things like the hair from her shower drain or underwear that she had worn the night before when she was all along, if you catch my drift. She left him all this gross stuff in his dressing room, I guess because she considered it a token of her affection or whatever."

My nose was crinkled in disgust as I stared at her in horror. "And he didn't get a restraining order against her?"

Shelby let out a sarcastic laugh. "Right? Well, one night, after years of the creepy gross stuff, she gave him this super expensive bottle of alcohol after a show and he started drinking it. He got super smashed and she went in his dressing room to congratulate him on a job well done. He slept with her and got her pregnant. He didn't remember it, 'cus he was so drunk."

"Understandable," I added.

"Well after the kid was born he still denied that he ever slept with her and it started driving her even more insane than she all ready was. When the kid was five she just snapped. She drowned the poor kid and then hung herself in the guy's dressing room. But it turns out, after further investigation, she had drowned the wrong child. There's an informational mural on the wall over there." She pointed across the house.

"That's horrible," I said, vaguely wondering which dressing room was his. I knew we needed to get back to the room with the fake vent and scan for any EMF readings. But first I had to read that wall. Something was calling me to it, I couldn't explain it. "I need to find my partner but I'll call you if I figure anything out."

I got up to leave but Shelby grabbed my wrist and turned me back around to face her.

"Why did you want to know about that?" She asked. I could only give her a blank look. "I mean, I just realized the connection with the drowning kids. Something weird is going on here and I know you know something, otherwise how would you know to ask about that?"

I could think of anything to tell her other than what came out of my mouth. "I really need to go find my partner."

I pulled my wrist out of her grasp and walked away, feeling horrible for not being able to answer her questions. I ran over to the mural and scanned the paragraphs painted in some Shakespearean calligraphy. I caught up with Dean and by the look on his face I wondered if he had heard the same story that I just did. I told him to follow me.

"Hey, so what did she say?" Dean asked as he followed me into the auditorium.

"Her sister checked out to go to the bathroom and never came back." I said. "What did you find out."

"Basically the same thing, except that I found out why the stage manager forgot to look at the check in/out sheet." He pressed his thumb and forefinger together before bringing them to his lips and pretending to inhale a joint. I rolled my eyes.

"Figures," I muttered. "Well, guess what else I found out?"

I stopped outside the room with the fake vent and started looking for the keys in my backpack. I took out the EMF reader and handed it to Dean before I found the keys. I opened the door and we snuck under the tape, closing the door behind us quietly.

Dean turned on the meter but I could all ready tell that the room felt different than before. He started waving it around the room trying to find a reading while I started telling him the story.

"There're readings coming from the vent," Dean said just as I was finishing.

"Really?" I said. I always kinda got a little excited when things started really picking up. I guess you could probably say that I got off on it… the adrenaline, geeze. Ok, and maybe it got me _that_ kind of 'excited', too, but can you really blame me?

_Rosemary, you're sick! A kid's life is at stake here and you're thinking about copulating with your boyfriend?_ I took a deep breath and tuned back into the real world.

"So, if what Shelby was saying is true, I think this is the lead actor's old dressing room. I remember Dewey saying something on the tour about how the box office, auditorium and stage had gotten completely renovated twenty-five years ago, but the house, the apartment upstairs and the dressing rooms just got some new paint and a couple additions." I smirked up at Dean as I knocked on the wall underneath the vent. I grinned when it sounded hollow on the other side.

...

"But we can't just knock it down!" I argued five minutes later. Dean looked at me like I was crazy.

"Why not? The girl could be behind there. Are you _that_ insane, Rosemary?" Dean asked. I shook my head and grabbed the screwdriver from before and made Dean undo the vent. He took it off and held me up so I could shine my flashlight inside. "You think the kid's in the vent?"

"No," I said, "I think there's no evidence that the spirit has been through here. And I'm right."

He put me down and started screwing the vent back on.

"What do you mean?" He said. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"I don't think this is where she's manifesting to steal the kids. Last time we opened that up, I wiped up all the ectoplasm that had been in there. If she manifested here or even passed through here more than once there would at least be the horrid smell of it, if not another gooey glob. It's completely clean."

"So, then what does that tell us?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"I think that this is the room where she killed herself, the lead actor's dressing room. They had this billboard on the wall that said that they closed up the bathroom that everything had gone down in." I knocked the wall again. "I mean, come on."

"Right, so why can't we knock it down, again?" He asked.

"Because Amber's not in there." I told him. "She's in the hidden hallways somewhere in the upstairs apartments."

"The what?" Dean asked. "Seriously? How do you know?"

"Yeah, because do you know who Dewey is? The real reason for the renovations and probably a horrible causing factor in all this stirring up?" I asked. Dean frowned.

"He's the son of the actress, isn't he?" Dean asked. I nodded.

"He bought the theatre 25 years ago, put it through the renovations, closed up the bathroom. He told us that he had just finished renovating his apartment upstairs right before all this started happening." Dean nodded. "And it said on the mural that he had been found hiding in the walls upstairs."

"And what the hell does any of that have to do with you finding my sister, _Agent Petty_?" Dean and I froze and slowly turned to see Shelby standing in the doorway.

...

...

**Ahh! I'm sorry it took so long to update. I wanted to update sooner. But now hopefully I'll get back to the usual Sunday/Wednesday updates. I'll really try. Thank you, everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to the new subscribers! Can I get more reviews this time?**

**I forgot to mention last chapter that Miss Shelby is based off a very loyal and lovely reader/reviewer. **

**The story is starting to come to a close and I was wondering how many of you wanted a sequel. A sequel would coincide with Season 1 of the show which means Sam would come back :). Leave me a review and let me know what you guys think.**

**heartyou! -Erin**


	30. Part 1 and 2

**Chapter 30**

**Part 1**

**By The Pricking of my Thumb**

"Shelby," I said quickly with a nervous hitch in my voice. I was trying to think of something to tell her; a lie that could explain what we were doing. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, keeping her eyes narrowed on Dean and I the whole time.

"I followed you guys back here because you seemed to know something that the rest of the cops didn't." She said, crossing her arms.

"Well, that's true," Dean said, trailing off at the end. She raised an eyebrow at the both of us.

"I never swear, but if you two don't tell me what the _hell_ is going on here – _really_ going on here – then I'm going to tell the cops that I don't think you're really FBI." Dean muttered something under his breath about not really swearing and I stepped on his foot. "Because I don't really think you are FBI."

"Okay, look," I said, trying to think of how to explain. "You're right, we're not FBI and we do know something the cops don't; we know how to really help you and find your sister."

"Tell me." She said evenly, obviously trying to keep her anger in check.

"We don't really have time for the whole 'ghosts are real?' revelation," Dean muttered quietly to me. I waved my hand slightly to tell him to let it go.

"What did he say?" Shelby asked, angrily.

"Okay, you know that whole story you told me?" She nodded. "And I'm sure you know that Dewey is the boy; well, see… sometimes when somebody dies, or takes their life tragically, their spirit doesn't ever go to rest."

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"And sometimes the spirits can manifest and do horrible things to living people that kind of resemble the spirit's worst last moments, especially after building constructions or renovations," I said.

"Let me get this straight," Shelby said as she started walking closer to us. She stopped when she was standing right in front of me. "You're telling me that the spirit of the crazy understudy has come back because of the construction that Dewey put the theatre through, and now she's kidnapping children, and then drowning them?"

I paused and glanced at Dean before looked back at her and nodding.

She raised her hand quickly and slapped me across the face before I could comprehend what was happening.

"Hey!" Dean snapped at her. "Just because you can't handle the truth, doesn't mean you can slap her!"

"I'm fine," I said, rubbing my cheek. I turned back to look at Shelby. She looked a little apologetic, but her anger and other emotions were quickly taking control. "Look, this isn't something that the cops can help you with. If you turn us in, the cops will never be able to catch who's doing it and they'll just close the theatre down. And you'll lose your sister. Is that what you want?"

Shelby hesitated for a moment and the sadness and worry showed through all her anger. She shook her head and muttered, "No".

"Then you have to trust us, because we're the only ones who can figure out how to end this, once and for all. We," I said, pointed to myself and Dean, "are the only ones right now who can help you."

She glanced between Dean and me for a few seconds before she took a deep breath. She held her hand out for Dean to take, and he did, hesitantly. "Dean, I'm Shelby."

She shook his hand and then regarded the both of us.

"All right, Dean, Rose, what can I do to help?" She asked. Dean turned to me with an eyebrow raised.

"Uh, no offense, but you can stay out of our way." Dean said.

"What?" Shelby asked. "No, you don't get it,"

"No," Dean said, putting the EMF reader back in my backpack, and taking the screwdriver for good measure. "You don't get it. We know what we're going. We've been dealing with this shit for basically our entire lives. We can't do our job with you tagging along. You'll just be a liability."

"My family is everything!" She snapped. "My little sister is all I have. I get that you guys are professionals, or whatever, but I'm on the verge of losing my entire family!"

"Okay, look, we don't even have a plan, yet." I said, before Dean could say no to her again. "We believe that your sister is somewhere upstairs in the walls,"

"The walls?" Shelby asked incredulously. I just nodded.

"But it'll be in Dewey's apartment, and we can't exactly walk up there and start smashing walls down looking for her." Shelby bit her lip. "And then we have to find where this lady was buried so we can salt and burn her remains and make sure that she never comes back."

"My favorite part," Dean muttered sarcastically.

"Well, I don't know much about the salting and burning…" Shelby started, "but I know about this hidden passageway behind the back curtains. I didn't think about it before but they are kinda in the walls and could be part of the hidden passages in Dewey's apartment. It leads to a narrow staircase that I never had the guts to go up, but it isn't anywhere near the catwalk and I guess it could lead up to Dewey's."

"Yeah," Dean mumbled, "that could work."

"Shelby," I started. She looked at me with questioning eyes. "How well do you know Dewey?"

She shrugged. "Not very well. I talk to him occasionally whenever there's rehearsal, but to be honest he really creeps me out. I catch him staring at me all the time and I started to think that maybe he liked me…"

"You really wanted to help us, right?" I asked. Shelby nodded and then stopped when she realized the direction I was taking.

"You're not going to make me talk to Dewey, are you?" She asked quickly.

...

"Hey, Dewey," Shelby said quietly as she approached him in the auditorium. He was sitting at the director's table, just staring at the empty stage. Dean and I watched from one of the balconies above as she took the stage manager's seat next to him.

"Hello, Shelby." He continued to stare at the stage and she looked up at us with confused eyes. I motioned for her to keep talking to him.

"How you doing?" She asked him. He turned to look at her slowly.

"I feel like that's something I should be asking you, not the other way around." He said. Shelby let out a small awkward laugh.

"I'll be better when I find Amber." She said. She glanced up at Dean and me again for only a second before she cleared her throat. "But I suppose I should realize that there's a chance that I won't get her back."

"Don't say that, Shelby." Dewey said gently. "The cops will find her soon enough."

"I just don't know what she would want. She's too young to have to decide whether or not she'd want to be buried or cremated." Shelby said.

"They buried my mother at the St. Barnabas Memorial Cemetery before they even realized that I was her son." Dewey said, sadly. I turned to Dean and gave him a thumbs up. He squeezed my shoulder gently as he got up and left to go find the cemetery. Shelby glanced up and saw that Dean had left all ready. I gave her a thumb up as well, our signal for her to wrap it up.

"I'm sorry if the cops had to question you," Shelby told Dewey. He pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time.

"Actually I opted to go do it at the station." He said, tucking the watch back into his jacket pocket. "I should probably be on my way down there."

He got up to leave, but turned back to Shelby.

"Stay as long as you'd like. Everything's locked up all ready and there are a few policemen wandering around. I'll tell them you might be here." Shelby nodded and waved to him as he left the auditorium. As soon as I was sure he was out of the building I left the balcony and met Shelby back at the closed off dressing room.

"That was relatively easy," Shelby said with a little smile. I smiled back at her.

"Yeah, it was. You were really good at getting that information out of him. Dean and I usually have to pull the information from people and make it really obvious." I sighed and shook my head. "Anyway, lead the way."

She nodded and led me away from the dressing rooms and back behind the back curtain. She started counting the wooden panels that were between the regular brick walls. It looked like the wood was just leaning against the wall but Shelby pushed one in and it opened into a hidden passageway. She walked in and I followed after, closing the wooden panel behind us. I pulled out my flashlight and turned it on. It was so tiny and dark; I probably should have made Dean do this part while I dug up the lady's grave. I tried to fight away the compressing feeling of claustrophobia that was making it a little hard to breathe.

"Down there is the stairs up," Shelby pointed in the direction we had been going and then to the other direction towards the dressing rooms, "and that way just leads to a small empty room that looked like it could have been an old costume room or something. It's kinda creepy. I've only been back here once."

The passage was so tight that we had to shuffle sideways, and we started shuffling to the stairs. Shelby paused at the top.

"Uh," she mumbled, "do you wanna go first?"

I nodded and shined the flashlight at the wall, looking for a door. There was something that looked like what could be a doorway that had a peephole and I bit my lip as I looked through the peephole. It looked like Dewey's bedroom. We kept walking down the narrow passage, which wasn't as narrow as it was down below; we still had to walk in a single file, but we didn't have to shuffle sideways.

Every time we saw a peephole we would take turned looking in it. We soon came to a crossing and had two ways to go down.

"Which way?" I asked. Shelby took a deep, shuddering breath behind me and started mumbling incoherently behind me. I turned and flashed the light on her to see what she was doing. She was pointing between the two paths and I realized that she was using the 'eenie-meenie-minie-moe" technique to decide. I almost smiled because it was something I would have done if I had been doing this part by myself.

She ended pointing left so I pointed my flashlight down that way and continued on. I stopped when I heard crying.

"Is that Amber?" I whispered to Shelby.

"No," she said quietly. I bit my lip and figured that Dean had found the grave.

"There's something I should tell you," I said while I continued to walk slowly and check in peepholes. Some showed parts of Dewey's apartment but others showed old empty rooms, not connected to the apartment at all. These were probably where the children had been kept.

"What?"

"Well, whenever you dig up a spirit's grave, they usually get really pissed off." I said, checking another peephole.

Dewey's bathroom.

"What'll happen?" She asked.

Of course, I didn't have to answer because right at that moment the ghost of Dewey's mother showed up at the end of the small passageway. I stopped quickly and Shelby bumped into me.

"That'll happen." I said. Shelby gasped when she saw the spirit but it quickly flickered and disappeared.

"Is it gone?" Shelby asked. I shook my head.

"No," I told her. "Let's keep looking."

"Shelby!" We turned quickly. The spirit was holding onto Amber who was struggling to get to us.

"Amber!" Shelby cried, starting to get to her as quickly as she could. Right before she got to them, they flickered away again. "Amber!"

She quickly turned on me, glaring.

"Where did she take Amber?" She growled, grabbing me and pushing me against the wall and holding my shoulders against it. I hit my head against one of the tiny metal peepholes and gasped when I started seeing stars.

"I don't know," I told her loudly, using a defensive technique I had learned in middle school from John to push her off me. "But accosting me isn't going to help."

I started pacing up and down, trying to think. I felt like I was grasping at air, not knowing what was going to happen next. It wouldn't be so hard to think if I was in a more open space, if there wasn't a kid's life at stake and if the kid's older sister hadn't demanded to tag along. I tried to understand what Shelby was feeling, but I needed to keep an objective stance and keep looking at the big picture.

There had to be something I was missing, but I couldn't think of anything.

"What are you doing? Pacing when my sister's life is at stake? Where the hell did they go? Where did she take Amber? Would you stop ignoring me!" Shelby yelled at me. I finally snapped and pushed her up against the wall, like she had to me, only I was stronger than her and I continued to hold her there.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snapped, glaring at me.

"Could you shut up for two seconds?" I snapped back. She continued to glare but she shut her mouth. I took a deep breath, pushing away the constant fear of the small space we were crowded in. "I'm not Wonder Woman, but I'm doing my best, okay."

Shelby nodded.

...

**Part 2**

**Something Wicked This Way Comes**

"There's got to be something you haven't told me about the story. Something that might seem like a small detail, nothing important. It might have been something that sounded completely insane that you might have thought it was a false rumor." I told her. She tried to think.

"There's nothing," she whispered sadly. My cell phone started vibrating and I took it out. Dean was calling.

"Yeah?" I answered on speakerphone.

"Find the girl yet?" He asked, his voice echoing a little in the narrow passage.

"Uh, well, kinda." I said. "You find the grave?"

"Yeah, I'm digging now but I decided to check in." Dean said. I almost smiled.

"Well, we're fine. But we're missing something. Call me after you salt and burn." I told him. He agreed and we hung up.

I started pacing again, looking at the ground while going over everything that Shelby had told me, everything on the mural, through my mind. I passed where the ghost had shown up with Amber and then I paused and turned to Shelby, who had been watching me the whole time.

"What do you know about the theatre ghost?" I asked her. Shelby frowned.

"Not much," she said. "I had heard a few scary stories about it, but tried not to think about it."

"Tell me," I told her. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Aren't we dealing with the spirit of Dewey's mom?" She asked. I looked back down at the ground where I stood, where the ghost had shown up with Amber, and nodded.

"Sometimes, when ghosts are extremely pissed off, they'll leave a residue where they manifest or do something that exerts a big amount of their energy. Mostly it's ectoplasm." I told her. "Down in the dressing room, there was a glob of it in the vent, and it was showing up in the victim's lungs."

"But?" Shelby asked. I gave her a questioning look and she shrugged. "It just feels like a 'but' is coming."

"Tell me about the theatre ghost," I told her.

"Well, from what I heard, there was this guy in the 1920's, a pedophile." Shelby said. "It was the first time I heard a rumor about hidden rooms up here. Supposedly he kidnapped children and kept them in these rooms to play with."

Shelby's face went white when she realized what she just said. She gasped and covered her mouth. "You don't think?"

I frowned. "Dewey's mom used a lot of energy to manifest with your sister. It was enough energy that should have left behind some ectoplasm." I pointed to the spot. "There isn't any."

"What the hell was she doing with Amber, then?" Shelby asked. I quickly shook my head and pulled out my cell phone. I had a guess, but I didn't know if I was right. I speed dialed Dean's number and impatiently waited for him to answer.

"You okay?" He asked when he answered.

"Don't salt and burn the remains," I said.

"What? Why?" He asked.

"She's not the one stealing children. I think she's trying to help them." I retold him what Shelby had just told me and he agreed with my conclusion.

"Does Shelby know what his name was?" Dean asked. I reiterated the question to her. She shook her head.

"No," I told him. He sighed.

"All right, I'm gonna make a real quick call and I'll get back to you." He said, hanging up before I could respond. I looked up at Shelby.

"What are we going to do?" She asked.

"Uh," I looked around and found the closest peephole. Looking through it I could see Dewey's bedroom was on the other side and I tried to find the way onto the other side. I pushed a loose board and it slid to the side, revealing the inside of his closet. I looked back at Shelby. "You think he has a computer in there?"

We went through his closet, past his bedroom and into his living room. I looked around and saw a laptop sitting on a small table and quickly went over to it and turning it on. Thankfully it wasn't password protected and I quickly searched the local news database for theatre pedophiles. It disturbed me a little to see how many hits there were but I finally found the right one.

My cell phone vibrated and I quickly answered it as I scanned the old newspaper article.

"All right, I called a series of people, but finally ended up at a historical database of the county and guess what I found out?" Dean said.

"That the guys name is Clive Hennegee, also known as The Nightmare Man?" I said. Scanning the article I also learned that this guy was an actor in the theatre, the closed off dressing room downstairs coincidently belonged to him, and he drowned the children after he had his way with them.

"Yeah, luckily they're buried in the same cemetery; unluckily Clive is buried all the way on the other side of the cemetery, almost a mile away." He said. "I'll call you when I'm done here."

"All right." I told him, hanging up.

"So, now what's the plan?" Shelby asked.

"There's something else I wanna know," I said, clicking back to the search engine. I typed in 'Gavrilla Memorial Theatre' and 'drowning' to see how many hits there were. If the spirit of Dewey's mom was doing the drowning, then there wouldn't be any between the time that Clive Hennegee died and before Dewey was supposedly drowned by his mom. I relayed my thoughts to Shelby and she nodded slowly, running it over in her mind.

"That makes sense, especially after we learned that this creep drowned a bunch of kids." She sighed as we both skimmed through articles about children being found dead from drowning all the way back to before Hennegee died through to now. "How often do you and your husband do this?"

I stopped and turned to look at her in confusion.

"Husband?" I asked.

"Dean, I mean," She said. "Isn't he your husband?"

I shook my head, maybe a little bitterly, as I closed the browser and shut his laptop. "He's just my boyfriend, but we have been going out for a few years."

"Oh, it's just," she hesitated, "I dunno, I guess the way he looks at you, and how he yelled at me after I slapped you."

I couldn't help but smile. I hadn't realized that Dean looked at me in any special way. I felt a small pang in my heart when I vaguely wondered if Dean and I could ever get married. I'd never pegged him to be in any sort of committed relationship and I certainly hadn't believed that we'd still be together years after our silly one night stand. I felt my face heat up, and couldn't believe that thinking about that night could still make me blush. I needed to change the topic and get back to the task at hand.

I cleared my throat. "We should probably get downstairs. I don't think she's up here anymore. I think Dewey's mom might have taken her downstairs, away from Hennegee's spirit."

Shelby nodded and we went back through the secret door in Dewey's bedroom closet, just in case Dewey were to come back if we left through the front door. Even though I was almost positive that Amber wasn't upstairs anymore, we checked all the peepholes that we passed on our way back to the stairs. All the rooms were empty.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and continued shuffling to the loose panel that led back behind the curtain. I stopped and looked down the opposite direction of the stairs, the way we had been heading.

"What did you say was down that way?" I asked Shelby.

"It looked like an old costume room, basically a closet. It has a door that goes to nowhere." She said. "Like the rest of this place, it freaks me out."

We heard laughing from behind us and we quickly turned and saw a new spirit; Clive Hennegee. He stood a few feet away from Shelby and just grinned at us for a moment before he lunged and snatched her up, dragging her back. I cursed and tried to pull out my Smith & Wesson from my backpack.

"Rose!" She cried, struggling to break free. I followed as he started dragging her by her hair up the stairs.

"Shelby, just hold on!" I finally found my gun, glad it was loaded with rock salt casings and quickly pointed at… nothing.

They were gone.

"Shit!" I cursed, kicking the wall. I dropped my backpack, frustrated with it, and pushed my way up the stairs, hoping to see them but deep down knowing he had taken her somewhere I wasn't going to find anytime soon.

I went back down the stairs, completely out of breath, and passed my backpack. I passed the way back to the stage all the way to the end of the narrow passageway. I slid the wooden panel to the side and entered the room that Shelby had told me about. It was small, but large for a closet. There were shelves and bars with hangers on them and a door that opened to nothing but a wall. The room was empty. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and breathed deeply, trying to figure out what to do next.

Not only did I feel responsible for loosing Amber, but I was definitely responsible for loosing Shelby. There were so many hidden rooms in the passageways upstairs and I was on the verge of breaking down. I checked my cell phone – no reception, battery almost dead – and saw that it was nearing 11pm. It had been a nonstop day.

I heard footsteps out in the passage way and quickly peeked from around the open panel.

Dewey's mom was staring straight at me. I frowned and came out of the closet, watching her. After a few seconds of just staring at each other she turned 90 degrees to her left and walked through the wall. As fast as I could, I went to the bottom of the stairs and grabbed my backpack and then pushed my way past the wood panel out of the hidden passageway.

I looked to my left and to my right, looking for the ghost, as my cell phone started buzzing. I answered it as I decided to get out from behind the back curtain.

"Hey," I said, weaving in between ropes and ladders and slowly walked out onto the stage. It felt like somebody had been squeezing my lungs up until this point when I finally felt like I was out in the open.

"He's burning up as we speak." Dean said. I sighed in frustration and looked around for any signs of Dewey's mom.

"Well, that's great except I still don't have Amber and I lost Shelby." I told him.

"You lost her?" He asked.

"Hennegee showed up out of nowhere, starting staring at us and laughing all creepy and then lunged at her and grabbed her. I tried to get to her but the passage was too narrow and then he completely disappeared." I rushed.

"Okay, calm down. I'm on my way." He said. "You sure we don't need to burn Mrs. Dewey?"

"Yes, I'm sure." I told him, seeing her in between side-stage curtains. "Call me when you get here."

I hung up and followed her backstage. She walked past the spiral stairs up to the catwalk and disappeared behind another wall. I looked around for an obvious door nearby but could see one.

"What the hell?" I muttered. I started trying to move wooden panels in the wall but nothing budged. I stepped away to take a better look at my surroundings and the floorboard I stepped on flipped up and revealed a metal doorknob underneath.

"Okay, this is officially the weirdest hunt ever." I said to myself, kneeling down and lifting up a few more floorboards. I grabbed the handle and lifted up yet another large panel of wood that had been hiding another spiral staircase going down. I left my backpack but held out my flashlight and gun and descended into the darkness under the stage.

Everything was dark and concrete under here and I could feel my claustrophobia set in again. I heard footsteps behind me and quickly turned, shining my flashlight. I jumped when I saw the ghost light up and walk through an opening. I followed her and saw her turn another corner and I continued to follow her until she stopped in front of a wooden door looking very misplaced in all the concrete walls and floors. She disappeared and I had a feeling that would be the last time I'd see her.

I quickly tried the door handle and was glad that it wasn't locked, since my lock pick kit was upstairs in my backpack. I pulled the door open and shined my flashlight inside the room. Shelby and Amber were both unconscious on the floor.

I rushed in the room and checked their pulses, thankful that they were both still alive.

"Rose!" I heard Dean call in the distance.

"In here!" I called back. Light suddenly filled the room and I jumped a mile high when I saw all the mannequins. They scared the crap out of me.

"Are they alive?" I turned to the door and saw Dean come in and rush towards us. I nodded, smiling, thankful that they were both going to be all right, and thankful that he was here.

...

"I realize that I never apologized for slapping you," Shelby said later, in the front house. Paramedics were looking over her sister for any injuries. I smiled and waved my hand at her.

"It's no problem, really. If a slap is the worst thing that happened on a job I consider myself really, really lucky." I told her. It was true. This had been the weirdest and most confusing hunt I could ever remember and one of the only ones where nobody suffered any serious injuries.

"So, this happens all the time?" She asked. I nodded.

"Constantly." Dean said.

"Are there others like you and Dean?"

"Yeah, but Dean and I are the only ones who ever work with a partner. Usually hunters keep to themselves." I smiled ruefully. "It's a really dangerous job to have with a family."

"I owe so much to you two, really. I know you said you have to go soon, but let me cook you guys a dinner. I bought an apple pie the other day." She said. I looked up at Dean and saw he was having a very conflicting moment. I shook my head.

"Thanks, but we really couldn't. We usually try not to stick around after we finish." I said, answering for Dean. Shelby nodded. I handed her one of my fake business cards, with my real cell number on the back. "In case you ever need to get a hold of me."

She took out a pen and ripped the card in half, writing down her own information on the blank half and handing it to me.

"And you'd better call if you're ever in the area." She said. I smiled and hugged her, a little sad to leave her. It had been a while since I felt sad to leave somewhere when usually I couldn't wait to leave.

...

...

**I KNOW! I'm so late. It seriously wasn't my fault this time. I had the chapter all ready to update Wednesday afternoon, like promised, but the internet in my house has been down. It just came back on. This is in two parts because I felt bad that I couldn't post when I had said I was going to so I added the next chapter to make this post super long. I hope it makes up for any disappointment.**

** But hey, you know what's kinda disappointing for me? If I understood the story traffic correctly, I've had 221 unique visitors read Chapter 29 since I posted it but I only got 5 reviews. I hate to beg, but come on. I know you guys can do better than that. You have done better than that. And thank you to the 5 lovely readers who did leave reviews. I dedicate this chapter to you.**


	31. Being Faithful Isn't Always Good

**Chapter 31**

**February 2005**

**Stockton, Utah**

"We're FBI," Dean told the man at the front desk. That was new; usually it was a woman sitting at the secretary position. "I'm Agent Adams and this is Agent Feldon."

"Are you here with Agent Tucker?" The man asked. Dean and I glanced at each other. I could tell we were thinking the same thing. _Who is Agent Tucker?_

"Has Agent Tucker been here recently?" I asked, trying to be nonchalant.

"Agent Tucker is in the morgue right now."

Again, Dean and I shared a telepathic thought. This one being 'o_h shit'._

"Well, we'll wait outside for him." Dean told the man. He led me away with his hand on the small of my back.

"I thought I'd be seeing you two," Dean and I stopped, turning slowly.

"Agent Tucker!" I exclaimed, seeing John in his professional getup. "Agent Adams and I were just going to wait outside for you."

"Well, let's go outside then." John said. The three of us went outside and I finally just noticed his truck parked outside. I was a little surprised that we hadn't noticed it before, but we really hadn't been looking for it. We walked over to his truck and I pulled out my sunglasses and put them on.

"What did you find?" Dean asked.

"All victims are married women. I've talked to some of their families all ready and they all say that these women were nice, innocent and had never done anything to create enemies." John said. "They've all been torn to shreds."

"So, some sort of beast?" I asked. John nodded.

"It's possible."

I tried to remember anything I had come across during my years of researching that matched the victims but I couldn't think of anything.

"We might as well work on it together," Dean said. It had been a couple months since we'd actually met up with John, but we always managed to call a few times a week to check in and make sure everything was going okay. We never had to wait longer than a few days for a call from John and vice versa. The usual protocall was that we each called when we found a job and after we finished it. We hadn't yet known if this was going to be a job which was why neither of us had called each other.

"Have you all ready checked into a motel?" John asked. We shook our heads. We had just arrived a little over an hour ago and had immediately started investigating. John told us to follow him and we'd get a room at the same motel. It would be easier to work together that way.

...

John and I were in his motel going through our journals and books and I was looking through the internet on my laptop. Dean had gone back to the morgue to take a look at the corpses for himself but I had opted out. John gave a good enough description of them and I didn't think I needed to see, or smell, them. Gruesome sights were usually never a problem for me, but smells were a whole different subject.

"You finding anything?" I asked. I looked up to see John shake his head. He paused for a second and then started flipping through his pages.

"I've encountered Bicorn's before." He said. I gave him a confused look, having never heard of a Bicorn before. "They feed on good men, husbands who are faithful. But they feed only on men, never on women."

I looked up Bicorn's on my laptop and smirked when I found an extra link.

"How about the Chichevache?" I asked. John came over to look over my shoulder.

"A human-faced cow that's usually skin and bones that feeds on good woman. It's so skinny because apparently there aren't very many good, faithful, innocent women." John nodded and patted me on the back.

"I think you found it." He said. He went to call Dean to tell him and we met up with him at the library.

...

"So how is this thing supposed to be killed?" Dean asked. "And a cow with a human face? Where the hell is this thing hiding?"

"I don't know, Dean," I muttered sarcastically while going through the list of where each murder like this happened to try and find a pattern, "why don't you pick up a book or go find a computer and do some research."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Someone woke up on the side of bitchy this morning."

"Enough, both of you," John snapped. "Just try to find anything."

We both continued on with our work in silence. John wasn't really used to our bickering. It happened every now and then but really it was because most of the time we were stuck around each other all day, every day in small spaces and we just got on each other's nerves. It happened, especially around my time of month.

Dean scooted his chair closer to mine and I smiled as I resituated myself so my legs were in his lap. See? We were all ready back to normal. I could feel John rolling his eyes at us and it made me smile.

I got out a map of the town and started marking where all the attacks had happened to see if there was a way to gauge where the Chichevache was hiding or where it was going to attack next.

"Finding anything Rose?" John asked. I shook my head as I studied to map.

"I can't find any correlations between the attack sites." I said. John and Dean both looked over the map and John held out his hand for my pen. I handed it to him and he started drawing lines and connected the sites. I cocked my head but still couldn't see what he was doing.

When he finished he turned the map around for us and I raised an eyebrow.

"It's seriously doing this in a circle?" I asked. John nodded. "So then where next?"

John marked a spot on the map that was across from the latest attack.

"Why is it doing it like this?" Dean asked. "It has to mean something."

"It's hiding right in the middle and it only feels comfortable going that far out." John said. Dean and I stared at him like he was crazy. "It's a cow," he explained. "It may have the head of a human but it still has the brain of a cow. There isn't a complicated answer to this one. It really is this simple."

I shrugged. "Will it be this easy to kill it?"

John shrugged. "Probably not. If they're anything like Bicorns, they move really fast and they're good at hunting."

...

When we went back to the motel we started taking care of our weapons. John and Dean were doing some simple maintenance on their guns and I was reassembling my crossbow.

"Two of us should stake out the middle and see if they can find where it's hiding and just in case I'm wrong about where the next attack is going to be." John said while looking at Dean and me. I knew that meant that was our job. Dean and I nodded. "I'll stake out the next place then, in case I'm right."

When Dean and I got to the supposed hiding spot we looked around. It was pretty much an open field with a few cows. They all had cow heads so we knew they weren't the Chichevache. There was a barn a few yards away that looked, and smelled, like it hadn't been occupied for a while. We crept up and I looked into one of the windows. I gagged at the smell and moved away for Dean to look.

There were piles of raw, rotting, bloody flesh and bones everywhere. This was definitely the hiding spot.

"Oh my god that's disgusting," Dean muttered. I nodded and looked around the field for the thing.

"Hey, Dean," I said suddenly, thinking of something.

"What's up Rosie?" He asked, motioning for me to follow him. We started walking around the barn, looking in all the windows.

"This thing goes after women who are faithful, right?" I said. Dean froze and then quickly turned towards me with a narrow stare. "I'm a faithful woman."

"So?" Dean asked.

"So," I mocked, "I fit the profile."

Dean looked pissed as he stared at me.

"No. Way. In. Hell." He spat. "We are not using you as bait."

I was about to reply when Dean's cell phone went off. He answered it and I kept my eye out on everything around us, making sure we wouldn't get taken by surprise.

"Yeah," Dean answered. It was obviously John. "No, it's not here. We found it's hiding spot though."

Dean paused as John said something and he glanced at me, his jaw tensing. I could tell John had thought the same thing that I did.

"Absolutely not." Dean said. I grabbed the phone from him.

"What were you thinking John?" I asked, walking away from Dean.

"It got away, but I shot at it before it could attack. I missed but it got scared away. I have a plan though. We'll set you up a little ways away from the Chichevache's hiding spot as bait. Dean and I will be close by." He said.

"That sounds good." I said. I looked back at Dean to see just how pissed he was. He wasn't even looking at me. He was pissed beyond all hell.

"I'll be there soon. Wait in the Impala for me." He hung up and I went to give Dean his phone back. He took it from me and stormed past me. I rolled my eyes and followed quickly after. One of the reasons it sucked to have short legs was that it took a lot of energy to keep up with the Winchester's sometimes.

"Dean, come on." I said as we made our way back to the Impala. "It's the only way."

He turned around and finally looked at me, glaring holes through my head.

"It's not." He said. He turned back around and got into the car. I sighed and got in as well.

We didn't say anything for a while and we both just stared out the windows.

"Do you know how fucking scared I was that night when the Harpy took you?" He asked softly. I turned to look at him and he looked up at me. I shook my head. We hadn't really ever talked about it. "I thought that it had taken you to Hell."

He shook his head and looked back out the window. I didn't know what to say.

"I swore when I got you back that I wouldn't leave you out of my sight, ever." He said. "That included you being used for bait, intentionally or not."

"I'll be okay Dean," I said. He laughed bitterly.

"You said that before you got taken. When you were convincing me to let you go onto the roof of the parking garage. You told me that you would be okay." He looked back up at me again and I could have sworn there were tears in his eyes. My heart skipped a beat and I started to feel horrible for putting him through all that. "And then you were trapped in a storage box for days and almost died from dehydration and suffocation."

"You and your dad are going to be watching me the whole time. I'll have a gun on me and you guys won't let anything happen to me." I grabbed his hand and held it tightly. "I trust you guys."

He took a deep breath and nodded. He leaned over to kiss me gently and we saw the headlights of John's truck coming towards us. He parked a few yards away and got into the back of the Impala.

"Okay," he looked out into the field and pointed to a small stack of hay bales. "If you sit on top of those we'll be able to see you and keep an eye on you. Dean will stay here and I'll go around to the other side."

"How do we know it's going to try and eat me?" I asked. Dean winced at my choice of words.

"Because I interrupted it from attacking someone else."

"Cock blocker," I said. He narrowed his eyes at me but I saw Dean smirk.

"It's hungry and it's on its way home. It'll smell you and your faithfulness to Dean and it'll try to attack you." John said. I nodded and grabbed my Smith and Wesson from the glove box. I checked to make sure it was loaded before I tucked it into the back of my jeans.

"It should be here soon." John said, getting out of the car. I nodded and turned to face Dean. He took another deep breath before grabbing the back of my head and pulling me towards him. He kissed me hard and passionately and I was definitely out of breath when he pulled away.

"I never thought I'd be so angry to know my girlfriend's not cheating on me." Dean said. "I love you. I'll keep you safe."

I pecked his lips again quickly before getting out of the car and walking away from him. When I reached the hay I sat down on top and waited.

...

Dean and John had moved their vehicles but I knew they were hiding out of sight and watching. After about an hour of sitting in the cold, dark, smelly field, I had the strongest urge to tip over one of the sleeping cows nearby but I stayed on the bale of hay. I knew neither Dean nor John would be even half as amused as I would be about it. Well, maybe Dean but only after he lectured me about it for a while.

I sighed and looked around, shivering. I wished that I had taken Dean's jacket with me because I was starting to get really cold. It was February after all. I was just thinking that we should go somewhere with snow next when I heard hooves walking around. I tensed and looked at all the sleeping cows until I saw an angry human face among the cattle. It was attached to a frail, dirty cow body. What was it with these creatures with barn animal bodies and gross human faces?

"Hi Chichevache," I said quietly. I reached behind me to grab a hold of my gun but the cow-man leaped at me and knocked me back. "Holy shit!"

I heard gun shots and I pulled out my own gun, shooting at the thing above me.

It made a wretched noise before it slumped over on top of me, cutting off my air supply. I tried to push it off, but for such a skinny thing it was damn heavy.

"Rosemary!" Dean called. I reached my hand up so he could see where I was.

"Help," I cried out. Dean and John jumped over the hay and lifted the thing off of me and I sat up, gasping for air. Dean kneeled next to me as John started to light the thing on fire. He ran his hands over me and checked to make sure I didn't have any injuries.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, my head hurts a little from the fall, but I'm fine." I told him. He let out a relieved sigh and helped me up and back to the car. John followed behind.

"There's another job, in Oregon, if you guys wanted to join me." John said as we reached the vehicles. I looked at Dean and he nodded. I knew he felt better when we were all together. The most important thing to Dean was his family and knowing they were safe.

"Yeah, we'll follow you." Dean said, opening the passenger door for me.

...

...

**So after I posted the last chapter, I realized I was being a bit hypocritical. I get at least a few reviews for every chapter I've posted and I usually don't respond to any of them. So I decided from now on that I'll respond to every review I get :) **

**John's back! And it sounds like they'll be working together for a little while, at least. A lot of people are asking when/where this story is ending and when Sam's coming back so I figured I'd let you all know. There's only a few more chapters left for _Life of a Hunter_ but the story is far from over. Sam's not going to come back until they pick him up from Stanford, which is where the sequel picks up :) **

**Please leave me bunches of reviews! I'll be sure to respond.**

**-Erin**


	32. Hunting  Under the Sea

**Chapter 32**

**June 15, 2005**

**Gleneden Beach, Oregon**

"So people are just walking into the ocean and drowning themselves?" I asked. The three of us were sitting in a diner getting something to eat before we started investigating. It was still early in the morning so we had some time before we really needed to get to work. We had all ready checked into a room at some motel.

"I'll have scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon please," I told the waitress as I handed her my menu. She nodded and left to go put our orders in to the kitchen.

"That's just about it." John said after she left. "Eight people in the past month have walked into the ocean in the middle of the night and were found swept onto shore the next morning."

"And we know they're just walking into the ocean?" Dean asked. "They weren't just going swimming or anything?"

"They were all fully clothed, with shoes and watches and jewelry." John said. "Either people in Oregon are weird and love swimming in the freezing ocean with all their clothes and expensive accessories or they are walking into the ocean."

"Then maybe they're being possessed by something." I suggested. "That's what it sounds like. Or maybe it's kind of like the deity we dealt with in Arizona."

"Both possible theories." John said. The waitress came back with our food and I eagerly started munching on my bacon. "We'll have to do more research after we eat."

...

After breakfast, Dean and I went down to the beach with our janky E.M.F. reader to see if we picked anything up. Nothing showed up or even seemed like there could have been possible spirit activity where any of the bodies had been but I could have sworn I heard a melody playing far off in the distance. Just because there weren't any signs of ghosts didn't mean it wasn't supernatural. I shrugged off the music in the distance and we met John back at the motel to see what he had found at the library. He wasn't back yet so I searched the internet on my laptop for any ideas while we waited for him.

"Could be a magical fish," Dean said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes.

"Or SpongeBob Squarepants," I added. I thought about the melody that I thought I had heard. "Hey Dean, did you hear any music or anything down at the beach?"

He bit his lip in thought but shook his head. "I can't remember."

"Weren't you paying attention?" I asked. He smiled and came to sit in front of me on the bed.

"Honestly I was paying more attention to you." I sucked on my front teeth to try to keep from smiling but I couldn't. Sometimes he said the most amazing things that made my heart leap. It made me glad I ended up with the Winchesters, even if my mother had died. I would probably have never gotten together with Dean. I leaned forward and kissed him sweetly. Of course that had to be the moment that John came into the room.

We pulled away as John closed the door behind him but he was concentrating on some papers he had printed out and he hadn't noticed us. Dean kissed my forehead quickly before sending his attention to his dad.

"What did you find?" Dean asked.

"There were a lot of those magazines that write about aliens and stuff that reported having seen mermaids swimming around here." He said. I quickly did an internet search for mermaids and started reading.

"There are myths that say mermaids can enchant mortals by singing their song and calling them into the water." He said. That explained the music that I heard.

"Come seek us where our voices sound," I sang to myself.

Dean and John both raised an eyebrow and stared at me like I was some homeless lady on the street offering sexual favors for cocaine.

"What?" John asked. I tried to keep myself from laughing and just shook my head.

"Nothing, but I could have sworn I heard some sort of melody when Dean and I were down at the beach." I said.

"Then we'll have to be careful." John said.

"Here's the obvious question," Dean said. I could tell he was having a little trouble wrapping his head around the possibility of a mermaid. But I mean, come on. How are mermaids any weirder than boggarts or faeries? "How do we get rid of it?"

"That's the easy part," John said. "We can kill it with anything. The hard part is finding it and actually killing it."

"Well, they have to be above water in order to sing and enchant a person, right?" I said. John nodded. I shrugged. "We'll just need some bait."

We both turned to look at Dean who stared back with wide eyes.

...

It had started raining by the time we were ready and Dean was looking miserable sitting out on the beach in the cold weather. I felt bad for him, but I really wasn't in a better position. I was up in a tree with my crossbow watching the ocean for any mermaids that might show up. John was hiding in some rocks with a gun and Dean had a gun on himself too, just in case.

We waited in the rain all night but the mermaid never came.

"I bet it knew we were waiting for it," I told the others as we got back into the motel room. John left to do some more research and Dean and I took the time to warm up in the shower together.

When we got out of the shower John still wasn't back yet. I sat at the table by the window and looked out. There were a few shops around, but one in particular caught my eye.

"Come on, Dean." I said, grabbing my jacket and my wallet. He followed in suit, confused as to where we were going. I led him across the street to the fishing shop and I started looking around at all the different fishing poles and lures.

"Can I help you?" I turned and saw a man around John's age sitting behind the counter. I smiled and went up to him.

"Yeah, I was just wondering," I said. "Do any of the local fisherman come in here for supplies?"

He nodded.

"Do they ever talk about what they see out there?" I asked. The guy nodded and leaned forward. "I'm curious if any of them have ever mentioned seeing a mermaid."

The guy chuckled. "Honey, every man who comes in this shop is aiming to catch that damn mermaid."

Dean came up behind us.

"Any of them ever come close?" He asked. The guy nodded.

"Yeah, a man named Rick Palmer came real close, so he says."

"Is there any way we could get a hold of him?" I asked sweetly. The guy studied me for a moment before going through one of his books. He wrote down something on an index card and handed it to me. It had the guy's phone number and the name of his boat, _The Jenny_. I nodded. "Thank you."

We left the shop and hurried back to the motel room.

"So what are we going to do with this?" Dean asked, motioning to the card. I smiled.

"We're going to call him up and offer our help." I told him, handing him the card. He rolled his eyes and dialed the number as John came in.

"You guys find anything?" He asked. I explained to him what we had done and who Dean was calling and John nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."

We met up with Rick the next day at his docked boat.

"Rick?" I called. He lifted his head out from inside his boat. The sun was coming out, thankfully.

"You the guys who called me yesterday?" He asked. We nodded.

"I'm Rosemary, this is Dean and John." I said, not bothering with aliases. "We want to help you catch the mermaid."

"What's in it for you?" I looked at the others for help.

"Nothing. We just want to get rid of the damn thing." John said. Rick stared at us for a moment before he started laughing.

"Good," he said, helping me up onto the boat. Dean and John followed up. "Everyone else wants to catch it to keep it. I seem to be the only one who wants the thing dead."

"Why do you want to kill it?" Dean asked. Rick mopped his forehead with the hand towel from his pocket.

"She drowned my daughter, Jenny." We all glanced at each other. I guess that was who he named his boat after. "It was a long time ago, but I hold a grudge like you wouldn't believe."

John shrugged. "So can we."

We set out on the water and I could all ready tell I was going to get seasick. I didn't let the others know it was bothering me but I was sure that my face was a little green. Dean sat down next to me, rubbing my back, while John and Rick started talking about strategies. They were planning on setting up a big fishing net to trap her and then shoot her when they brought her onto the ship.

Rick told us we'd be on the boat all night if we had to, and just the thought of being on this boat for that long made my stomach clench. I quickly turned to lean over the railing as I vomited into the ocean. Dean was at my side, rubbing my back and holding my hair out of my face. I didn't want to look up to see the others reactions.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked softly. I shook my head.

"Sea sick," I said, miserably.

"Here, drink this," I looked up and saw Rick holding a cold can of Ginger Ale. Dean thanked him and took it before he helped me sit back down. He handed me the can and ran his hand through my hair in a comforting motion. I sipped it slowly while the three men set up the net. I thought that I had heard the melody from before but I was too nauseous to figure out if it was just in my mind or not.

...

"Anybody hungry?" Rick asked. It was now dark out and I was kicking myself for not bringing anything warmer to wear. I felt bad that I wasn't really helping because I was still feeling sick but they weren't really doing anything at the moment. We were mainly just waiting for the mermaid to show up and/or get caught in the net.

Rick was cooking something, but I had all ready barfed a few more times and I couldn't even watch the others eat. I was just lying down on the deck with Dean's jacket over me for warmth.

"So how long have you been hunting this thing?" John asked Rick. My eyes were closed and Dean was sitting next to me. Rick paused and I guessed it was to finish chewing.

"For ten years." He answered. "Every time I get close she slips right through my fingers."

"How do you keep from being enchanted?" Dean asked.

"It's never bothered me. I've seen it happen to many men. It's the reason why I don't have a crew anymore. I used to have at least two men with me." He said.

"So not everyone's affected?" John asked. It was silent and I guessed that Rick nodded. John and Rick continued to chat but Dean was silent. I sat up and leaned against him. He turned his head.

"I thought you were sleeping," he said softly. I shook my head and rested it on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head. "Are you feeling any better? You should probably eat something."

"Oh god," I groaned, thinking about food didn't help at all. I shook my head. "I can't."

"Do you want some more Ginger Ale?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Just stay here," I told him. He chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"I can do that."

"How are you doing over there Rose?" John asked. I opened my eyes to look at him. "I can't tell if you're pale or not."

"I can't tell either," I said, a little bit sarcastic, "but I'm gonna go ahead and say that I am."

John nodded and laughed a little.

"Good thing we always travel by car." He said.

A few moments of silence passed and I was sure that I was hearing the melody. I sat up.

"Does anyone else hear that?" I asked. Everyone listened and I stood up as quickly as I could to look out into the dark water. Dean's jacket fell to the ground. The water was really creepy; it looked like it went down forever.

"That's her," Rick said, walking over to the railing and looking out as well. John and Dean followed suit. I couldn't hear any specific words but she was definitely saying something. I looked out to the beach to see if anyone was out there but was thankful that I didn't see anyone. It looked like it was just her and us.

"What is she saying?" Dean asked.

"Come to me," Rick answered. I turned to look at him, about to ask him what to do, when Dean leaped over the railing and into the ocean.

"Dean!" I exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing?"

He started to dive down and I started to freak out. John started to take off his shoes to jump in after to get him. I realized that Dean was hypnotized from the mermaid's song.

"Oh, to hell with that," I muttered, leaping over the railing without bothering to take my shoes off. The water was so cold but I quickly dived under, looking for Dean anywhere.

I ran out of breath and swam back up.

"Rose! Get back up here." John yelled. I ignored him.

"Turn on a light or something!" I called. "I can't see a thing! Dean could get caught in the net!"

I was all ready getting tired from treading water so I took a deep breath and dived back under. I tried not to think about what was swimming in the water with me and just focused on catching up with Dean. A moment later a beam of light trickled under the water and I could see just a little bit better. I could see where the net was and I could see Dean swimming deeper and deeper.

I kicked my feet as hard as I could to catch up with him. I reached out my hand and grabbed his ankle. He ignored me and kept kicking his own feet, swimming deeper and deeper. I grabbed his ankle with both hands and pulled him back. I found a burst of energy, probably from sitting around on the boat all day without doing anything and somehow got in front of him.

He was all ready getting weaker and I was quickly running out of breath. I wrapped my arm under his shoulders and tried to swim back up with him. He was too heavy.

I gasped a mouthful of water into my lungs when an arm reached out of the darkness and grabbed Dean's legs. It was the mermaid. Black spots were starting to cloud what little vision I had in the dark water and I didn't know how much longer I would be able to fight. I didn't even know if Dean was still conscious.

I didn't even know if Dean was still alive.

...

...

**Thank you everybody for the amazing reviews :) They made me super crazy happy! I have some good news for you guys. The next chapter _was_ going to be the last chapter, but then I rewatched the first episode again and realized there would be something missing from my story. So I decided to write about what happened when Dean (and Rose) were in New Orleans. It's gonna be fun!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me some reviews. I promise to answer them all :)**

**-Erin**


	33. Voodoo Hunter Daddy

**Chapter 33**

I could have cried in relief (it's possible that I did, but I was drowning so I don't really know) when I felt two hands reach through my arms and grab me. They started kicking and pulling upwards and I used what little energy I had to help kick. The mermaid was still latched onto Dean's leg and out of nowhere a harpoon attached to a long piece of rope shot through the water and right through the mermaids head.

She let go of Dean's leg and whoever was pulling me finally broke through the surface. I coughed and hacked up all the water from my lungs, breathing in the fresh cool air. It burnt horribly but I couldn't help but smile when I saw Rick reeling in the harpoon rope. John helped me back onto the boat and then dragged Dean up.

Dean wasn't moving.

"Dean," I gasped out. I crawled over and pushed John aside roughly and started to perform CPR. "One, two, three, four,"

I tilted his head back to open his airway and blew into his mouth before starting more compressions.

"Come on, Dean." I said, pumping his heart. "One, two, three, four,"

I blew more air into his mouth.

His eyes quickly opened and he rolled over to hack up all the water from his lungs. I fell back, beyond relieved.

"Come on, Rose," I looked up and saw John holding out a hand with a giant blanket in his other hand. Rick was helping Dean and the harpooned mermaid was splayed out on the deck a few feet away. John helped me up and wrapped the blanket around me and once Dean had his own blanket wrapped around him John helped me so I could sit next to him and maybe generate some body heat between the two of us.

"Are you okay?" I asked Dean quietly while John went below into the captain's quarters. Rick threw a tarp over the mermaid. Dean rested his head on top of mine and nodded.

"You saved me," he said, clearing his throat after a moment. I played with my fingers awkwardly.

"Actually your dad saved us." I told him. "We wouldn't have made it if he hadn't come after me."

...

Rick navigated us back to shore and we had a little celebratory bonfire, mainly to burn the mermaid. Rick had been a veteran from Vietnam like John and they were sharing war stories by the fire. Dean and John had both brought their separate vehicles and I really wanted to go back to the motel and sleep.

I turned to Dean. "Can we get out of here?"

"Yeah," he said, glancing at me. We had sat a bit apart from his dad and Rick so he went over to tell John that we'd see him at the motel. John nodded and Dean shook hands with Rick before he came back over to me. He helped me up from the log we had been sitting on and led me back to the Impala and we drove back to the motel. We fell asleep quickly after changing into pajamas and a quick shower.

When we woke up John's bed was still made and there was a note on the nightstand telling us that he was off somewhere else on his own. He wrote that he would call us and we'd meet up soon.

We didn't know it then, but that would be the last time we'd see or hear from him in a very long time. We wouldn't even know if he was still alive…

...

**September 5, 2005**

**New Orleans, Louisiana**

"All right," Dean said, grabbing our bags out of the trunk. He used his elbow to slam it closed and I held the motel door open for him. "Tell me what's going on here."

"A woman turned up last week in the middle of a parking lot, drowned to death." I said, shutting the door. "Then, two days ago, another woman showed up floating in the public pool having burned to death. There were witnesses who said she was swimming when it happened."

"Seriously?" He asked. I nodded and showed him the two separate newspaper articles. He read them over. "The women were both strippers."

"I think they prefer the term exotic dancers, but yes. They both belonged to the same club, so eloquently named 'Girls!Girls!Girls!'." Dean smirked.

"I think I'm gonna like this case," he said. I glared at him.

"Who said you're going anywhere near there?" I asked him. He wiped the smirk off his face and replaced it with an apologetic look. I shook my head. "No way, freak."

Now he looked hurt. "That was uncalled for, Rosie."

I rolled my eyes, not buying his act for one minute.

"Nope, too bad. I'm going to the club to ask about the two women. You will be going to the morgue to examine the latest body." He cringed his face in disgust and I was glad to see that this wasn't a fake look. "You need to learn how to do that part by yourself for when I won't be here to do it for you."

"What?" He asked quickly, grabbing my arm.

"Relax, Dean," I told him, reaching up on my toes to peck his lips. "I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me until you die."

He sighed but hugged me close to him, wrapping his arms around me. "Good, 'cus I'm dragging you to hell with me if I have to."

I pulled away. "Psh, please. Like this ass would be seen anywhere near hell." I said, pointing behind me. I turned around and grabbed my skirt suit from one of the duffels and went to the bathroom to change.

"Yeah, whatever." He called when I shut the door. "Your ass will be in hell years before mine!"

...

"I'm Agent Wilson of the FBI," I said to one of the bartenders, flashing my badge. "Do you know this girl?"

I showed him the picture of the girl who had been found in the forest. He glanced at the photo while he scrubbed down the bar and nodded.

"That's Peppermint." He grunted. I raised an eyebrow in question but showed him the picture of the second girl. "That's Honey Milk."

"Right, and what are their real names?" I asked. The bartender shrugged.

"I don't ever meet the real them, lady. The only persona I ever see in this girls are the ones that they have to be." He said, finally giving me more than a few syllables. I sighed.

"When was the last time you saw either of them?" I asked him.

"I saw Pepper around nine days ago. She left without her tips." He said. "And Honey was here three days ago. She didn't even work for long that night before she left."

"Did anything weird happen to them recently?" I asked him. "Did they go through something traumatic or do you know anybody who'd want to hurt them?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing really comes to mind. You might have to talk to some of the other girls backstage or to the other bartender. I'm not here every night."

I nodded and picked up the photos of the girls.

"How do I get backstage?" He pointed to a doorway with bead curtains beside the bar. Five minutes later I found myself in a group of scantily clad women in 4 inch platforms and messy wigs.

"Do any of you know about anything out of ordinary that happened to Honey or Peppermint?" I asked them. They all seemed to take a moment to think. A few of them shook their heads and went back to their make-up. I sighed and pulled out a ten dollar bill and held it out. "Now does anyone know?"

"Actually," a really skinny girl spoke up, "they both had an encounter with a weirdo."

"Oh, yeah." Another girl with a black wig said. "It might have been the same one, too."

"What happened?" I asked them. The girl with the black wig raised an eyebrow and stared at the ten dollar bill. I sighed and pulled out another one.

"This guy ripped a huge chunk of their hair out," the black wigged girl said.

"Yeah, I watched it from my pole. It reminded me of the creepy guy from Charlie's Angels." The skinny girl said.

"But he didn't smell the hair." Black wig told her. Skinny girl shrugged.

"So?"

"So, how did it remind you of the creepy guy from Charlie's Angels?" Black wig asked. I watched the two bicker back and forth. "This guy didn't look like he was enjoying any part of his night, except for ripping their hair out."

"So," I said a little more loudly to get their attention back. "He didn't seem actually interested in watching the other girls?"

"No," Skinny girl said, "and he was stone cold sober, too."

"How could you tell?" I asked.

"Sweetheart, please, you don't come to a strip club to drink water with your arms crossed the whole night." Black wig told me. "The bartenders only serve water in brown plastic cups. That's the only thing those cups are used for."

"Why?" I asked.

"So we know who's drunk." Skinny girl explained. "They give them a white napkin if it's the first drink, a cup of pretzels after the third, and a pink umbrella if they're past seven drinks."

"And just the brown plastic cup if its water." I said just to clarify. They nodded. "So this wasn't a drunken mishap? He actually wanted to rip out her hair."

They shrugged. "Can we have our money?"

I rolled my eyes and handed each of them ten dollars before leaving and making my way back to the bartender. I might as well look at the security footage now since I had to wait for Dean to come pick me up.

...

"So did you find anything interesting?" I asked as I shut the car door and Dean drove off to the motel.

"From what I understood, besides the anomalies of burning to death in a pool and drowning on dry land, there wasn't anything weird about the girls." He said. "Oh, except for the fact that they both had,"

"Huge chunks of hair ripped out?" I asked, finishing his sentence. He glanced and me and nodded. "Yeah, that corroborates the story I heard from some of the other girls at the club. And according to the security footage, it was the same guy."

"Anything else?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Well, he did it on purpose. He had been drinking water all night and was completely sober when each girl propositioned him for a lap dance." I told him. "There wasn't anything super weird about the encounter except that each night they were the first girl to go up to him."

"So the way he's choosing girls is completely random." I nodded.

"This is starting to sound like witchcraft," I told Dean. He nodded as he pulled into a parking space in front of our motel room.

"Except in these necks of the woods, it sounds more like good ol' Louisiana Voodoo."

...

"Voodoo was brought over with the slave trade." I read out loud from my computer. "From what I could tell it started with just the practice of making and wearing charms for protection or healing or the harm of others."

"You've got nothing about voodoo in your journal," Dean said, "but I think I remember Dad talking about Voodoo Queens."

"What do you remember?" I asked, trying to find something about Voodoo Queens online.

"Not much, I think I was paying more attention to you and Sammy trying to stick your fingers in electrical sockets." He said, flipping through some pages in one of our books. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, I was five when you picked me up and I was a child genius." I said defensively. "I was way too smart to go sticking my appendages in electrical sockets; your brother maybe, but not me."

"You probably told him it was a good idea," Dean said, laughing. I chuckled and nodded with a grin.

"Yeah, that sounds a bit more like me." I clinked on a link. "Here's a bunch of Voodoo superstitions. I wonder if any of them are real."

"Like what?" He asked.

"Here's a creepy one – if a woman wants her husband to stay away from other women, she can do so by putting a little of her blood in his coffee."

He paused and looked up at me with a small glare.

"Don't you dare bleed in my coffee, woman." He said, pointing at me sternly. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, like you're worth pricking my finger over." I said. He gasped.

"I'm so worth it." He said, glaring at me. "Take that back."

"Did I bruise your ego?" I asked him, pretending to pout. He crossed his arms.

"Like you could damage my ego, please." He said. "I just want you to apologize for insinuating that I'm not worth a little of your blood in my coffee. What if I cheated on you?"

I stared at him blankly to see how serious he was being but I couldn't tell.

"Nobody is worth my blood in their coffee. Besides, it would kinda ruin the coffee, don't you think?" I said and then I glared at him. "And if you cheat on me I'll castrate you with a rusty machete and leave you to die where nobody could find you."

Now it was his turn to see if I was joking. I raised an eyebrow and silently dared him to call me a liar.

"Is there a list of any Voodoo practitioners in the area?" He asked, smartly changing the subject. I smirked and looked back down at the computer in my lap.

"Yeah, there's a lady not far from here. Her name is Madam Caraby." I said, writing down her address and using GoogleMaps to find the general area. I closed my laptop and picked up my backpack. I looked over at Dean to see him still sitting on the bed, watching me. "Ready?"

...

I couldn't help but watch Dean as he drove his beloved Impala. Sometimes I couldn't help but get jealous of the way he looked at his car. If you could see what I'm talking about I think you'd understand. Sometimes I think he loves the car more than me.

"You okay?" Dean asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I smiled softly and nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

"You've been watching me since I pulled outta the motel." He hesitated and glanced at me. "You know I'd never cheat on you, right?"

"Yeah," I said, trailing off a little at the end. I know it sounded like I didn't believe him, but I did. Mainly because he knows I wasn't lying about that rusty machete; it's waiting for him in the trunk.

"Because I won't," he said, glancing at me again.

"I know," I told him.

"Good." He said, staring back out at the road in front of him.

"Are you afraid that I'll cheat on you?" I asked him. He shook his head, tensing a little, as he kept his eyes on the road.

"No," he said. He smirked and glanced at me, his shoulders relaxing a little. "Besides, I know I'm the best you've ever had."

I rolled my eyes at his ego, but I was secretly glad that he acting more himself. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

He parked on the street in front of a colorful one-story home and we both regarded it with discomfort in our eyes. We didn't really know what we'd learn in there. Most of the time when that was the case, things always turned out for the worst.

Dean met me up on the sidewalk and guided me up to the front door with his hand on the small of my back. He reached forward and knocked on the door with determination. I noticed the curtains in the window next to the door shifted slightly before the door opened partially.

"Can I help you?" A bodiless, deep-southern voice asked us. I glanced up at Dean.

"I'm James and this is Lily," Dean said, "and we're students at the university. We were wondering if we could speak to Madam Caraby for a paper we're writing."

"You can talk to Madam Caraby when you stop lying to me, boy." The voice said. I raised and eyebrow and tried not to smirk up at Dean. It wasn't very often when he got called out on his lies, but when it did happen I liked to remember the moment.

"I don't know what you mean," Dean said, trying to act innocent. I reached up and rubbed his back, trying to let him know it was okay to tell the truth sometimes.

"My name is Rose," I said, over Dean, "and this is my boyfriend Dean."

The door opened a little wider and we saw the body that the voice belonged to. A very big, beefy woman in a purple dress and green head scarf was staring down at the two of us.

"We had some questions about Voodoo and were hoping that Madam Caraby could answer them for us." I said. The lady raised an eyebrow before opening the door even wider and beckoned for us to come inside.

I jumped when the door closed on it's own accord behind us but Dean continued to guide me after the Creole woman. I couldn't help but smell the amazing aroma of food that was coming from the kitchen.

"Mama's making crayfish and potatoes," the woman said when we stopped in the living room. "You're welcome to have some when it's ready."

I smiled and nodded, listening to my stomach growling. "That would be amazing."

She nodded and left us alone in the room. I glanced at Dean and shrugged before moving to sit at the couch.

"Don't sit there, girl." An older woman said out of nowhere. I jumped back up and turned to see a smaller, more frail woman in an orange dress and hair wrap. "I don't want crayfish on my couch. Sit here."

She sat down at a small circular wooden table and pointed to the seat in front of her. I hesitantly took a seat and waited. She looked up at Dean, still standing in the corner, and glared at him.

"You," she snapped. "Sit on the couch."

He nodded silently and sat down, still turned so he could see us.

"I am Madam Caraby." She said, pushing her big sleeves up on her arms. "What can I do for you today?"

"What do," Dean started.

"Not you!" She snapped. Dean shut his mouth quickly. I glanced quickly at him, wondering if this had been such a good idea after all. She looked back at me and nodded. "You don't lie. I want to hear from you, dear."

"Uh," I hesitated, "Okay. We've been working on this case and were wondering if you could answer some questions we have. We suspect that Voodoo is the reason for two women's deaths but we can't prove it."

"Tell me about the women," she said.

"They were both exotic dancers,"

"Strippers," She interjected. I gulped and nodded. This woman kinda freaked me out a little. She was really intimidating.

"Right, strippers." I agreed. Hell, if she wanted me to swallow a bucket of rotten fish I'd do it. "And this guy ripped a chunk of the first girl's hair and the next day she was found dead on dry land from drowning. He went back to the club and ripped out hair from the second girl and the next day she died from horrible fire burns while she was in a public pool."

"Yes," she murmured. "This is definitely the cause of Louisiana Voodoo."

"How do we stop it?" Dean asked. The woman didn't say anything and picked at her long nails instead. I glanced unsurely at Dean. He nodded at me.

"How do we stop it?" I asked. She looked up at me.

"You must find the man and get rid of him." She said. She stood up and went over to her giant bookcase and started rummaging around. I looked helplessly at Dean. I had all ready kind of figured that was what we'd need to do, but there must have been something else. She came back and put down a stack of newspapers on the table, spreading them out. I glanced at the newspapers.

"Wait," I pulled one of them out and looked more closely at the picture. "That's the guy."

Madam Caraby pulled the picture out of my hand and nodded, looking at it.

"That's Reverend Carter." She said, putting the newspaper back on the table. I looked at the other newspapers and saw more photos of him. Why was she showing me these? I pulled another one out and scanned the article.

"He wants to close down all the clubs." I said, looking up at Dean.

"So it's obviously him." Dean said as Madam Caraby pulled the newspaper out of my hand again and set it back on the table. "Where can we find him?"

"Where can we find him?" I reiterated, since I figured she wasn't going to answer him again.

"Probably his church down the street." She said. The big lady from before came into the room with a giant steaming pot and poured the contents over the newspaper covered table. I raised an eyebrow and wondered if Madam Caraby had been trying to show me the newspapers at all. "Are you staying for crayfish?"

I glanced at Dean and he motioned his head for us to leave.

"No, but thank you," I said politely. "We'll show ourselves out."

...

...

**I was going to try and finish the hunt, but I needed some more for the next (and last!) chapter. Plus I got a little roadblocked. Reviews please?**

**I have some uh-oh news. :( My computer is like a ticking time bomb right now and it's about ready to die. I have no clue when it'll die, just that it will probably happen soon. And my father is being kind of an asshole about the whole thing so I don't know when I'm going to be able to get a new computer. If all of a sudden I stop updating for a while, check my author page since I'll try to post the dilemma there. **

**I wanna know what kinds of supernatural creatures you want to see in the sequel, besides the stuff from the episodes, so tell me when you leave a review! You guys are awesome!**

**-Erin**


	34. All Caught Up

**Chapter 34**

"That was weird," Dean said as we got back into the Impala and drove down the street. I saw the church from the pictures in the newspaper and told him to park nearby.

"Yeah, you're telling me." I said while I kept my eyes on the church. I turned to look at Dean. "What's the game plan?"

"Well, Billy down at the morgue sold me an eighth and I was thinking later we could pick up a handle of something, anything really, and have ourselves a bit of fun tonight." He said with a smirk, winking at me. I bit my lip to keep the smile off my face and tried to think about our job rather than what a fun night with Dean would entail. It was just too hard.

"So, James Dean? Really?" I asked him. "You think you're as smooth as James Dean?"

"James Dean wishes he could be as smooth as me." He replied, leaning closer to me. I rubbed my lips together and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure James Dean just wishes he was alive, but sure, whatever you say." I smirked, leaning a little more towards him, following his lead. I loved to play this game with Dean. We were both masters at it so it was always a toss-up when deciding who the winner was. But we both knew it was always me.

"Well, you know Marilyn Monroe wishes she had your body." He said. His lips were just mere inches from mine and I could feel his hot breath against my face.

"So are you telling me now that you're into role-play?" I asked. A look of pain flashed across his face for a moment and I pulled away, worried. "What? Are you okay?"

He groaned and rubbed his face.

"I just pictured you dressed up as Marilyn Monroe and it was one of the hottest things I've ever imagined." He whined. I smirked and mentally added another tick under my name. I totally won this round.

We both jumped at the sound of someone rapping their knuckles against my window and I turned to see the good Reverend Carter staring coldly at us. I fumbled for the button on the door and lowered the window so he could lean in.

"You two kids wouldn't be doing something unmentionable in front of my house of worship, would you?" He asked. I shook my head.

"No, sir."

"I suggest you two buckle your seat belts and go on back home." He reached towards me and I panicked and tried to pull back. He brushed his hand through my hair and I shivered when he pulled away slowly. I was so shocked that I almost didn't feel the pricks behind my ear when he pulled his hand away. He stuck his hands in his pockets but the sun glistened against the thin black strands hanging out of his pocket against his black suit as he stepped away from the car. "You have a nice night."

"What a freak," Dean muttered as he rolled up my window.

"Oh god," I whispered. The feeling of panic was pressing against my lungs and it felt like I was stuck in a small, dark, enclosed space.

"What?" Dean asked.

"You didn't see that?" I asked. "He pulled out some of my hair!"

...

Dean drove immediately back to the motel and started pacing back and forth while I looked for Reverend Carter's home address in the yellow pages. It started to get dark out and I was trying not to think about how long it should take someone to make a Voodoo doll.

"Why didn't you stop him?" He asked.

"Stop him from being creepy? I'm sorry I wasn't able to defend myself from him running his hand through my hair." I snapped. I bent over my knees and held my head in my hands. I was so screwed.

"He could be in his basement right now making a Voodoo doll with your hair right now!" He exclaimed angrily. "You could die in a matter of seconds."

I stood up angrily and pushed him back, glaring at him. "Then why the hell are you just pacing around for? I'm sorry that I froze when it happened and I didn't stop him, but yelling at me isn't helping!"

I turned away and tried to take a deep, calming breath. Was this it? I didn't die in that storage box and maybe I was supposed to. Maybe I'm just living on borrowed time.

Dean pulled me back to him and held me in his arms.

"You're not going to die." He said. I started to reply but the sound of my cell phone going off stopped me. I stayed in his arms for a second longer, not knowing if I was going to be able to feel his protection later when everything was over, before I pulled away and went to answer my phone.

"Agent Wilson?" A girl answered back on the other line.

"Yes," I said. "Who is this?"

"I'm one of the girls you spoke to at the club earlier. I got your number from the bartender."

"Well," I said, looking back at Dean who had moved to my laptop. "I'm kinda busy right now."

"I'm sure, it's just… that guy came back." I paused and tried to steady my breathing. "And he pulled out a chunk of my hair."

"You didn't think you should maybe just stay away from him?" I asked sarcastically.

"Hey, bitch, he came up behind me and there was nothing I could do." She snapped. I sighed.

"Sorry, it's just…" I sighed again and rubbed my forehead. "My partner and I are doing everything we can. The most I can tell you right now is to stay with someone until we find him and take care of him."

"Yeah, right, well thanks for nothing." She said, hanging up after. I pulled my phone away and plopped down on the bed, exhausted.

"You okay?" Dean asked. I stared at him for a moment, wondering how I should answer.

Truthfully I felt like I really needed to re-evaluate my life. Chasing after creatures from scary stories and fairy tales didn't exactly seem like the best way to spend the rest of my life. On the other hand, a life without Dean seemed far worse than anything I've ever had to face. Even my near death experiences weren't as terrifying as the thought of leaving Dean for a normal life.

"I'll be fine as soon as we get a hold of my Voodoo doll." I told him. He nodded and stood up, offering a hand to me. I took it graciously and he pulled me up.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be at his apartment." He said.

"Except we don't know where he lives," I said, trailing off as he held up a piece of paper with an address on it.

"Except… we do."

...

Dean stood watch as I bent down to pick the lock of the reverend's door and I smirked when I heard the lock click. What could I say? It was second-nature.

We walked in, Dean closing the door behind him, and started looking around the small, tidy space. It didn't really look like a man of God lived here, but you can't always tell.

"Where should we start?" I asked. Dean shrugged and started rummaging around the living room. I headed towards the stairs, holding on to the railing, when I heard a loud pop and felt blinding white pain from my shoulder. I cried out and fell to my knees, cradling my right arm.

"Rose?" Dean ran over to me. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, not knowing what happened.

"She dislocated her shoulder." We both looked up and saw the reverend at the top of the stairs, holding a doll in front of him. He took the right arm of the doll and started twisting it slowly. I bit my lip in pain, trying not to scream and give him any satisfaction. It hurt like fucking hell.

Dean stood and pulled out his gun, pointing it at him. He stopped twisting the doll's arm but smirked.

"Infidelity is a lot of things, you know." The reverend said, walking down the stairs. He patted my head and I tried to swat him away with my good arm. He chuckled and continued to his living room. Dean pulled me up and kept me close as he followed Carter.

"Yeah, but she's not a stripper like the rest of your victims." Dean said.

"Infidelity doesn't have to mean only adultery. Betrayal falls under the category just fine."

"She didn't betray you. We don't even know you." Dean snapped.

"Yes, but you were planning on coming here to kill me, weren't you?" He asked. Dean didn't say anything and that was all the answer that the reverend needed. "I guess I'll just have to kill your girlfriend instead."

He pinched the doll's neck between two fingers and started to squeeze gently. As it was happening, my air supply started to get cut off. I tried to gasp for air but he smirked and squeezed a little more tightly. I fell to my knees again and grasped at my throat. I grabbed Dean's leg and he dropped down beside me.

"Stop it!" Dean yelled. The edges of my vision started to go cloudy and white and swore that I was seeing stars. I could only hear the sound of my heartbeat as it got slower… and slower…

…

…

…

"Rose!" I heard someone calling far off in the distance.

"She looks dead."

"She's not dead. I can feel her heartbeat. Rose, come on."

"Even if she ain't dead, she sure looks it."

I opened my eyes blearily and saw Dean glaring at Madame Caraby who was taking the stitching out of the Voodoo doll.

"Just because she looks dead, doesn't mean she _is_ dead, okay lady?" She shrugged and lit the thread that she pulled out of the doll on fire. Dean turned back to me and let out a relieved sigh when he saw my eyes open. "Oh, thank god."

"Far as I can tell, God hasn't done anything for you worth thanking," Madame Caraby muttered. Dean ignored her and brushed the hair out of my face.

"What happened?" I asked hoarsely.

"Well, really, the only thing I could do was shoot him." Dean said only looking somewhat sorry. "I grabbed the doll and found a box of other dolls and figured the best thing to do was bring all of them and you here. I'm starting to realize that it wasn't the best idea."

"Please, boy, you tickle me." Madame Caraby said sarcastically. She tossed the unstitched canvas in her fireplace and nodded to herself. "That's the last of 'em."

"And you're sure that the curse is off?" Dean asked. She raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

"Are you questioning me?" Dean hesitated and then shook his head. "Good, now get outta here."

Dean rolled his eyes but helped me up and guided me towards the front door.

"Thanks for your help," I called behind me before I shut the door. Dean helped me into the Impala and started to drive us back to the motel.

"Do you have any requests for our next destination?" He asked. I bit my lip in thought.

"Well, I have a request, but it doesn't have anything to do with where we're gonna go next." I said, smirking slightly.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" He asked.

"Well, didn't you say something earlier about an eighth and a handle of anything I wanted?" I asked. Dean nodded and smirked back at me.

"I like the way you think, Rosie."

...

**September 13, 2005**

"Something is starting to happen. I think…" The voicemail was starting to cut out and it was hard to make out, even as I listened to it for the umpteenth time. "I need to find what's going on… Be very careful."

"It's been almost three months," Dean said. He was tense and we were sitting in the Impala outside of Santa Clara Valley, California. I really didn't want to be here and Dean knew that. But I knew that we didn't really have a choice.

"I know," I said quietly. "He isn't answering his phone either."

"He always calls or answers." I pulled out a map of California from the glove box.

"How do we even know he'll want to help?" I asked Dean. "He hasn't exactly wanted much to do with us since he left."

"There's no one else to turn to," Dean said. He looked at me and I could see how worried he was. "Look, I don't like it, either. But Jericho is so close anyway. What if,"

He paused and looked away. We could hear kids running around outside.

"What if what, Dean?" I asked.

"Never mind." He said. I sighed and looked outside the window.

"Look, I'm just as worried about your dad as you are." I told him. "I really am. He's the only father I've ever known. But we've dealt with much worse stuff before by ourselves. The Harpy," I said, "and that boggart. Don't forget that deity."

"But nothing has ever kept dad from calling us or somehow contacting us before. All we've had was this voice message." Dean said in his 'that's final' voice. He sat up and started the engine without looking at me. "We need him, Rosie."

...

We got to the University admissions right before they were going to close and I noticed it was a male student still working. I motioned for Dean to stay outside and I unbuttoned the first few buttons on my collar to show a little cleavage.

"Hey," I called, smiling at him. He looked young, definitely a freshman or sophomore. He seemed nervous and looked around for anyone else.

"I was just about to lock up." He said.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but could you look something up for me? My brother wanted me to come visit but he forgot to tell me where he lived. He's an idiot like that sometimes." He nodded and sat down at one of the computers, glancing below my neckline a few times.

"What's his name?" He asked. I told him and he wrote down his address and apartment number for me. I thanked him and quickly left, meeting Dean at the Impala. We drove to the apartment building and waited until we knew he'd be sleeping.. We quietly got into the building and got to the right apartment on the third floor. Dean bent down to pick the lock but he was taking too long.

"Bet you I could break in through a window and let you in before you get it unlocked." I smirked. Dean looked up at me. Growing up with John's obstacle courses, picking locks had always been Dean's weak point. Sam and I were always much better at it. Besides, I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and I was hungry.

"You're on." He said. I quietly ran out and found the window to the apartment right near a fire escape. I stood next to the closest tree and jumped up, grabbing the lowest branch and hauling myself up. I carefully climbed over onto the fire escape and made my way up to the window. It had been the first in the hall so it was easy to find. The window opened easily and I pulled myself up and into his living room. I passed his open bedroom which I'm sure he was sleeping peacefully inside, and went to the front door, unlocking it and opening it.

"I win," I whispered. Dean glared and pushed through, knocking something over. I glared at him and snuck into the kitchen. I saw a shadow across the wall and heard Dean start to fight with someone. I rolled my eyes as I walked into the living room and watched the two as Sam unknowingly fought with his older brother. Dean knocked him down and I turned on a table lamp, illuminating the scene.

"Easy tiger," Dean told him with a smirk. Sam glanced at me in the doorway and back up at Dean.

"Dean? Rose?" He asked, panting slightly from the fight. "You scared the crap out of me."

...

...

**END!**

**I'm sorry it took me so freaking long to update this last chapter. My laptop died literally seconds after I posted chapter 33. It was very frustrating, to put it lightly. However, I now have a beautiful, fast, amazing new desktop :) Please, feel jealous. It's taken me a while to get used to the new Windows 7, but I love it so much. And Microsoft 2010 is nice, too. Anyway, enough bragging.**

**Thank you guys for being so patient waiting for this chapter and the finale of LOAH. I am pleased to say that there is a sequel in the works and I plan to post the first chapter very, very shortly :)**

**I hope you guys liked the whole story and I hope you're all ready to learn more about Rose's past and her involvement in the series. There are a lot of surprises in store. **

**Please review! I promise to respond!**

**-Erin**


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